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xp_logsBackdated to November 20th. Doug and Laurie drive back to their martial arts dojo. Doug is still very distractable, so Laurie is driving, and they talk a bit.
"Do you know what you're going to say to Master Lee yet?" Laurie asked Doug, her eyes flicking to him before quickly flicking back to the road in front of her. She might have gained her license but she was still a careful driver at the best of times, and this certainly wasn't one of those.
"No idea," Doug said, his eyes scanning rapidly, watching the subtle patterns of the traffic around them, how one person slamming on their brakes had a ripple effect that cascaded back potentially a mile and more, how people subconsciously slowed past a car on the side of the road, even if there was no accident, out of some kind of morbid sense of curiosity. It was a good thing Laurie was driving, because he likely would have been too busy interpreting the interactions around them to actually drive.
Laurie winced suddenly, but managed to keep her hold on the wheel and steer them steadily through traffic. She'd been getting steadily worse pains for the last few days, her limbs seemingly protesting any movement at all. Jean had given her some extra strength pain killers but she didn't like taking them during the day, the left her feeling much too drowsy and the idea of getting behind on any of her schoolwork was stressful to say the least.
"If it weren't for Master Lee's views on 'feminine issues' as an excuse for skipping class, I would so be home with a water bottle right now." Laurie muttered, mostly to herself. "Do you think he'll let you sit out for awhile?" she asked, slowing the car and changing gears as the traffic lights turned red up ahead.
"The only thing I know is that Master Lee rarely reacts the way you expect him to," Doug replied, the longest complete sentence he'd actually strung together since the car ride began. It made the instructor completely inscrutable, even to Doug and his ability to read body language. He had packed his bag in the trunk of the car, just in case Master Lee reacted differently than Doug was hoping.
"You're telling me." Laurie muttered, taking off as the light turned green, her foot slowly pressing on the accelerator to get them back up to cruising speed. "He was only a couple of weeks ago telling me I needed to tell my instructors when I wasn't getting things, and now I'm supposed to be doing a belt test soon. I do not get that man, at all."
"I'm pretty sure he likes it that way," Doug said with a shrug. "Keeps people off-balance, on their toes. He wouldn't test you if you weren't ready," he stated a fact, no reassurance or anything else in his voice, just a dispassionate observation.
Laurie usually had a strict 'no prying' rule when it came to her elders - if they wanted to tell her something, they would. Still, something was obviously wrong with Doug, he was so terse lately, and he didn't joke anymore. "Doug? Are you okay? I mean, you know, after all the stuff in Manhattan?" she asked, slowing and flicking on her indicator light as she turned the corner.
"That really depends on your definition of 'okay'," Doug replied. While they did train together, he wasn't particularly close to Laurie, and even then, there were some things that he just wasn't about to tell anyone who didn't work at Snow Valley. And possibly not even them.
Laurie opened her mouth, and then firmly shut it again. She might have pushed him at some other time, wanted to know...she never really could know enough. It wasn't the time however, and so she fell silent, eyes turned back to the road.
Silence suited Doug just fine, as he didn't feel the need to fill up the space between them with random chatter. He spent the time composing what he was going to say to Master Lee in his head and watching the cars around them.
***
Master Lee invites a very different-looking Doug into his office to discuss things, and skewers him rather effortlessly.
Laurie looked around the dojo, noting the small number of students who were limbering up on the mats. Less then she'd expected given Master Lee's usual opinion on days off. She hoped nothing had happened to them, a lot of people had died in New York.
"I'm just going to go change." she said to Doug, moving off to the change rooms.
The dojo had been closed for about three weeks, more than long enough for Doug to recover from the more extreme side-effects of the events of the struggle with Mastermold.
But the Doug that stood scanning the dojo looked almost nothing like the Doug who had come to the last class before "Day Zero". His skin was startlingly pale, which made the bags under his eyes from lack of restful sleep stand out even more. His close-cropped blond hair could have been written off to Doug getting a haircut, but combined with all the other changes to his features, it was yet another clear indication that -something- had happened to the young man.
"Miss Collins? Douglas?" Master Lee stepped out of his small office and looked at the pair of students quizzically. He glanced at Doug briefly, and with a great deal of concern on his face before turning towards Laurie. "See me after your class, Miss Collins." He waited for her nod of acknowledgment and then turned back towards Doug. "My office, Douglas."
"Yes, Sensei." Laurie murmured as she exited the room, her bag slung over her shoulder. She still had a little bit of time before class started, so she'd decided to take her time.
"Sir," Doug replied crisply, turning for the office. This wasn't his normal class time, so he'd come in with the express purpose of speaking with Master Lee. He supposed he should have figured that Master Lee would be observant enough to analyze the situation without having to say anything. He sat down in a chair facing Master Lee's desk, his hands folded in his lap.
Normally, talks in Master Lee's office were for one of two reasons. A lecture, or offering a student a chance to teach a class. Doug had been on the receiving end of both of those and in both cases, the door to the office remained open. This time, Master Lee closed it firmly behind him, and then sat down at his desk. "I am not going to play question-and-answer with you. I know where you live, I know where you went to school, tell me what happened."
Doug pursed his lips pensively. Master Lee had an almost preternatural ability to tell when people were lying to him, it sometimes seemed like. So a complete lie was out of the question. But he just as obviously couldn't tell the whole truth. On top of the question of whether or not he'd be believed, it would reveal some other peoples' secrets that weren't his to tell. "I'm not sure I can tell you all of it, sir," he admitted honestly. "I got caught up in the invasion, and came out like this as a result of the fighting." Start broad, and see what sort of details Master Lee asked for.
Master Lee simply crossed his arms over his chest and stared across the desk at Doug. "In my experience, people do not 'come out of fighting' with skin four shades paler, and missing their ear piercing." He looked around the small office and then met Doug's eyes. "Douglas, I am not asking you to tell me exactly what occurred. I know better. But when you -and-Miss Collins both come into my dojo with signs of having been involved in that... madman's attempt to take over New York? Do you really expect me to not ask questions?"
Of course Master Lee would not simply leave it at that. That would have been too easy. And Master Lee rarely made things easy on his students. And in some ways he was even harder on his black belts. But it wasn't as though he could simply come out and say that he was some sort of superhero, because then it would raise pointed questions about the nature of his job, his coworkers, and the place where he had gone to school. "My powers made me...uniquely qualified to deal with...certain aspects of the invasion, sir," he said in reply. "As you can see, there were...side effects."
"I see." Which was Master Lee for "I'll leave it at that. For now." He looked Doug over carefully, taking in the weariness in his face. "Is Miss Collins suffering any side effects that she is not going to tell me about?" Both he and Doug were well aware that Laurie had a tendency to not tell anyone when she was struggling. A handful of classes had adequately demonstrated that.
Doug looked out the office window toward the floor and thought. "Well, aside from the coloration thing, she apparently is having cramps. Like way worse than usual cramps. I guess since her power affects other peoples' hormones, using hers can put her own out of whack in response."
Master Lee nodded. "I'm impressed she came in without complaint. Although I expect that she's been informed of the absence policy already regarding that." It wasn't official, it was just simply understood that unless a female student was flat on her back or it was medically inadvisable, that she was to attend class regardless of any 'female problems'. "Do I need to ask Miss Collins the same about you, or can I expect you in class tomorrow?"
"...About that, sir," Doug said slowly, frowning. Somehow, he got the impression that Master Lee was going to nail him to the wall. "I don't know when I'm going to be able to return to class. Part of the side effects were...mental. Memory loss." It was an oversimplification, but it was essentially what had happened. It was just that he'd gone into it voluntarily.
"You have forgotten your class material?" Master Lee asked, looking at Doug closely, almost analytically, and with a grave expression on his face. "Is that the only mental side effect? You are not at risk of seizures, there was no nerve damage?" He paused, obviously in thought. "Is it permanent memory loss, Douglas?"
"I don't know." Doug would have probably sounded more frustrated if it weren't for the way Emma had locked away all the things that distracted him, including his emotions. There was so much he didn't know about whether Emma could put things back the way they were. "I believe just the memory loss, sir. No nerve damage as far as I know." In fact, he had something along the lines of a brand new body, but he wasn't sure that Master Lee would be able to comprehend that.
Master Lee stood up, and moved to a filing cabinet. He pulled out a drawer, and flipped through the folders in it, finally taking one out, and set it on the desk, opening it to a student record, for Ramsey, Douglas, A. "What does this say?"
"I don't understand the question, sir." Doug examined the card, having seen many others just like it with the students in lower belt level classes. He cocked his head, looking for some hidden gem of information that Master Lee expected him to see. "It says that I'm a black belt, working towards second degree, with teaching privileges."
"Do you think that changes because you are ..." For the first time, ever, Doug saw Master Lee struggle for words. "Injured? No." He took the card back from Doug, putting it into the folder and filing it away. "You earned that black belt. You earned a place here after I nearly did not let you come back into my school because you gave up. Why are you giving up now?"
That twinge of almost-frustration rose again in Doug's mind, and he frowned. "How can I have teaching privileges when I can't even remember the material to teach, sir?" he asked. "How do I still deserve a black belt when I don't have any of the knowledge I needed to earn it?"
"Do you -want- me to take it away?" Master Lee shrugged, seemingly apathetically, face blank - and yet, to Doug it must have been apparent that it was false, that the older Korean man was using the act of apathy to mean something. "Why can't you re-learn the material? Don't teach for a while. Why is your answer always to give up, Douglas?"
Doug's mouth flopped open, his brain incapable of putting words in it. No matter how many times Master Lee managed to deftly see right to the core of people and skewer them precisely, it never ceased to be startling and unexpected when it happened to you. "I...don't know, sir," he admitted, though the answer was probably more complicated. After all, Emma had tied off his emotions for the most part, and hope is an emotion. It wasn't precisely that he was fatalistic, but more that he had become so direct and single-minded in his thinking that he hadn't even considered the line of thought that Master Lee was apparently on.
"Are you physically capable of attending your class?" The question was not asked with malice, or sternness, it was entirely out of concern. "If you are not, we can focus on that. I can find you a class to take, or have someone work with you. I imagine Miss Collins could walk you through white belt material, she is very close to her belt test." Master Lee gestured out the small office window where Laurie was stretching and speaking to a classmate, both of them working together on a block that would be part of their testing material. "If you are..." he left it hanging, for Doug to answer.
"Physically, I don't seem to be having any problems, sir," Doug said, a decisiveness in his voice. And now that he'd had time to get a bit of color back in his skin, and begin building calluses, he was looking a bit better. And he would continue to look better as time went on. And muscles and joints weren't the problem at all. "With your permission, sir, I'll put in some extra review time, and I will be at class tomorrow at the regular time." Master Lee had nearly thrown him out once for all but quitting on him, Doug didn't want him to do it again.
"Good." Master Lee looked out over the floor, at the couple of black belts working out and who would not add extra stress on what he could see was a still very tired and weary Doug. He made a few mental notes, and returned his attention to Doug. "No sparring until you don't look like hell, Douglas. I don't want you booting up on my floor."
"Yes, sir," Doug replied. "I'll go get my bag out of the car." No time like the present, he supposed.
***
During class, Laurie and one of her classmates hit things off.
Laurie watched her companion move through the white belt form, trying to focus on the details as she would be showing where she was up to next, and she didn't want to get anything wrong.
"Move your foot a little more to the right." one of the black belts noted, keeping an eye on them from a distance.. "Your stance is still too narrow. If someone pushed you from the side, you'd fall right over."
"I do that all the time," one of Laurie's fellow students whispered with a grin. It wasn't that they couldn't speak during class, it was just that excessive frivolous chatter was frowned upon. But the occasional whisper flew under the radar for the most part, unless Master Lee was in an especially foul mood. But those moods were generally spared the newer students.
"Same here." Laurie whispered back with a grin, turning her head slightly to get a look at who was talking to her. "It's hard to get a wide enough stance when you come out of that combo."
Her classmate ducked his head and went back to the motions of the form as one of the black belts came back around, a sheepish grin directed at Laurie. He darted glances at her every so often as the class practiced.
"I'm Laurie, by the way." she whispered after they'd worked through their form. "I wouldn't happen to have some kind of weird sign on my back or something, would I?"
"I'm John," he replied in a whisper, with a little wave in lieu of reaching over to shake her hand, since they were a little too far away from each other for that. "Nope, no sign on your back," he answered with an easy smile. She'd noticed him noticing her, obviously.
"Nice to meet you, John." she said, and then faced front as the black belt signaled them to begin the second form. "So, were you admiring my mastery of our chosen art, or just looking at my fabulous ass?" she continued after a moment, her voice soft with a teasing lilt.
Laurie couldn't believe she was being so bold, but after all the things that had happened recently, and how insane her life was in general, something as normal as flirting outrageously with a cute guy seemed a balm to her frazzled state.
"And who's to say I can't do both at once?" John replied, a casual teasing in his voice to match Laurie's. He took another deliberate look down her body, knowing she was watching him this time, then nodded. "Definitely fabulous." He grinned, then snapped back to the form as the black belt's attention turned to him.
She snorted softly and then turned an innocent look on the black belt who simply raised an eyebrow at her. She was sure she hadn't been fooling anyone, but she figured they'd wait until after the lesson to give her the talk about paying attention. She continued to work on her form for a few more minutes, moving her legs into a wider stance, and crooking her elbow slightly on her punches so her arms didn't snap out straight, leaving her open for a strike that would break her elbow easily.
"So, you live close by?" she whispered after awhile.
"Why, you thinking of stalking me back there and playing 'Solsbury Hill' on a boombox in the rain at three in the morning or something?" John asked She bantered well, he liked that in a girl. And it didn't hurt that she was cute and a classmate, either. Some of the black belts were quite cute, but Master Lee had very firmly held opinions on the subject of dating in the dojo between instructors and lower belts, from what he'd heard.
"The original Peter Gabriel version, or the cover that Sarah McLachlan did?" Laurie asked after a time, practicing the forward jump, kick section of their form. "I prefer the Sarah McLachlan version but you might be a traditionalist, and I wouldn't want to offend your sensibilities."
Laurie had a feeling she might be moving toward getting asked out territory, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, he wasn't bad looking in a normal guy sort of way. But on the other, her life didn't exactly lend itself toward normal being safe. What if he was secretly some kind of brain sucking abomination hell-bent on the total subjugation of the entire human species?
It was at this point in time that she realised she should really get more sleep, or any sleep at all. The lack of said sleep seemed to be making her just a tiny bit weird.
"Original. Covers are evil. Except for Cake's cover of 'I Will Survive'. And maybe Smashmouth covering 'I'm A Believer'." She was knowledgeable about music. A definite plus in his book.
The pair kept mostly quiet for the rest of class, trading glances and smiles during downtime, and after the class ended and they had both changed out, John approached Laurie in the lobby. "Can I interest you in a frosty bottle of water?" he asked.
"Definitely." Laurie said, waving at Doug who appeared to be talking to one of the black belts. He didn't seem like he wanted to leave quickly, so she'd have time. "I have to go soon, but I think we have time for that."
"There's a mom-and-pop just around the corner. I usually stop there after class." He looked over at Doug, recognizing him as one of the black belts, though obviously a bit the worse for wear currently. "Boyfriend?" he asked curiously. He didn't suspect so, as he doubted Laurie would have been flirting the way she was if that was the case, but it didn't hurt to be sure.
"Nah, just a friend. We catch a lift into class together usually." Laurie noted, and then shooed John to go ahead of her. "I figure he'll be fine to wait for me for a little while. Lead on, Mcduff."
John snorted. "That's -lay- on, Macduff." He bit back the instinctive pun about laying and duffs. That was a bit premature, he thought, though she definitely seemed to appreciate his sense of humor. He preceded her to the door and pushed it open, gesturing gallantly as he held it for her. The fact that he got to sneak another look at her backside was just a side benefit.
Laurie went ahead of him, rolling her eyes as she did so but there was a smile on her face even so. "I claim artistic license then. Just better be flavored water you're getting me, is all I can say."
"Do you know what you're going to say to Master Lee yet?" Laurie asked Doug, her eyes flicking to him before quickly flicking back to the road in front of her. She might have gained her license but she was still a careful driver at the best of times, and this certainly wasn't one of those.
"No idea," Doug said, his eyes scanning rapidly, watching the subtle patterns of the traffic around them, how one person slamming on their brakes had a ripple effect that cascaded back potentially a mile and more, how people subconsciously slowed past a car on the side of the road, even if there was no accident, out of some kind of morbid sense of curiosity. It was a good thing Laurie was driving, because he likely would have been too busy interpreting the interactions around them to actually drive.
Laurie winced suddenly, but managed to keep her hold on the wheel and steer them steadily through traffic. She'd been getting steadily worse pains for the last few days, her limbs seemingly protesting any movement at all. Jean had given her some extra strength pain killers but she didn't like taking them during the day, the left her feeling much too drowsy and the idea of getting behind on any of her schoolwork was stressful to say the least.
"If it weren't for Master Lee's views on 'feminine issues' as an excuse for skipping class, I would so be home with a water bottle right now." Laurie muttered, mostly to herself. "Do you think he'll let you sit out for awhile?" she asked, slowing the car and changing gears as the traffic lights turned red up ahead.
"The only thing I know is that Master Lee rarely reacts the way you expect him to," Doug replied, the longest complete sentence he'd actually strung together since the car ride began. It made the instructor completely inscrutable, even to Doug and his ability to read body language. He had packed his bag in the trunk of the car, just in case Master Lee reacted differently than Doug was hoping.
"You're telling me." Laurie muttered, taking off as the light turned green, her foot slowly pressing on the accelerator to get them back up to cruising speed. "He was only a couple of weeks ago telling me I needed to tell my instructors when I wasn't getting things, and now I'm supposed to be doing a belt test soon. I do not get that man, at all."
"I'm pretty sure he likes it that way," Doug said with a shrug. "Keeps people off-balance, on their toes. He wouldn't test you if you weren't ready," he stated a fact, no reassurance or anything else in his voice, just a dispassionate observation.
Laurie usually had a strict 'no prying' rule when it came to her elders - if they wanted to tell her something, they would. Still, something was obviously wrong with Doug, he was so terse lately, and he didn't joke anymore. "Doug? Are you okay? I mean, you know, after all the stuff in Manhattan?" she asked, slowing and flicking on her indicator light as she turned the corner.
"That really depends on your definition of 'okay'," Doug replied. While they did train together, he wasn't particularly close to Laurie, and even then, there were some things that he just wasn't about to tell anyone who didn't work at Snow Valley. And possibly not even them.
Laurie opened her mouth, and then firmly shut it again. She might have pushed him at some other time, wanted to know...she never really could know enough. It wasn't the time however, and so she fell silent, eyes turned back to the road.
Silence suited Doug just fine, as he didn't feel the need to fill up the space between them with random chatter. He spent the time composing what he was going to say to Master Lee in his head and watching the cars around them.
***
Master Lee invites a very different-looking Doug into his office to discuss things, and skewers him rather effortlessly.
Laurie looked around the dojo, noting the small number of students who were limbering up on the mats. Less then she'd expected given Master Lee's usual opinion on days off. She hoped nothing had happened to them, a lot of people had died in New York.
"I'm just going to go change." she said to Doug, moving off to the change rooms.
The dojo had been closed for about three weeks, more than long enough for Doug to recover from the more extreme side-effects of the events of the struggle with Mastermold.
But the Doug that stood scanning the dojo looked almost nothing like the Doug who had come to the last class before "Day Zero". His skin was startlingly pale, which made the bags under his eyes from lack of restful sleep stand out even more. His close-cropped blond hair could have been written off to Doug getting a haircut, but combined with all the other changes to his features, it was yet another clear indication that -something- had happened to the young man.
"Miss Collins? Douglas?" Master Lee stepped out of his small office and looked at the pair of students quizzically. He glanced at Doug briefly, and with a great deal of concern on his face before turning towards Laurie. "See me after your class, Miss Collins." He waited for her nod of acknowledgment and then turned back towards Doug. "My office, Douglas."
"Yes, Sensei." Laurie murmured as she exited the room, her bag slung over her shoulder. She still had a little bit of time before class started, so she'd decided to take her time.
"Sir," Doug replied crisply, turning for the office. This wasn't his normal class time, so he'd come in with the express purpose of speaking with Master Lee. He supposed he should have figured that Master Lee would be observant enough to analyze the situation without having to say anything. He sat down in a chair facing Master Lee's desk, his hands folded in his lap.
Normally, talks in Master Lee's office were for one of two reasons. A lecture, or offering a student a chance to teach a class. Doug had been on the receiving end of both of those and in both cases, the door to the office remained open. This time, Master Lee closed it firmly behind him, and then sat down at his desk. "I am not going to play question-and-answer with you. I know where you live, I know where you went to school, tell me what happened."
Doug pursed his lips pensively. Master Lee had an almost preternatural ability to tell when people were lying to him, it sometimes seemed like. So a complete lie was out of the question. But he just as obviously couldn't tell the whole truth. On top of the question of whether or not he'd be believed, it would reveal some other peoples' secrets that weren't his to tell. "I'm not sure I can tell you all of it, sir," he admitted honestly. "I got caught up in the invasion, and came out like this as a result of the fighting." Start broad, and see what sort of details Master Lee asked for.
Master Lee simply crossed his arms over his chest and stared across the desk at Doug. "In my experience, people do not 'come out of fighting' with skin four shades paler, and missing their ear piercing." He looked around the small office and then met Doug's eyes. "Douglas, I am not asking you to tell me exactly what occurred. I know better. But when you -and-Miss Collins both come into my dojo with signs of having been involved in that... madman's attempt to take over New York? Do you really expect me to not ask questions?"
Of course Master Lee would not simply leave it at that. That would have been too easy. And Master Lee rarely made things easy on his students. And in some ways he was even harder on his black belts. But it wasn't as though he could simply come out and say that he was some sort of superhero, because then it would raise pointed questions about the nature of his job, his coworkers, and the place where he had gone to school. "My powers made me...uniquely qualified to deal with...certain aspects of the invasion, sir," he said in reply. "As you can see, there were...side effects."
"I see." Which was Master Lee for "I'll leave it at that. For now." He looked Doug over carefully, taking in the weariness in his face. "Is Miss Collins suffering any side effects that she is not going to tell me about?" Both he and Doug were well aware that Laurie had a tendency to not tell anyone when she was struggling. A handful of classes had adequately demonstrated that.
Doug looked out the office window toward the floor and thought. "Well, aside from the coloration thing, she apparently is having cramps. Like way worse than usual cramps. I guess since her power affects other peoples' hormones, using hers can put her own out of whack in response."
Master Lee nodded. "I'm impressed she came in without complaint. Although I expect that she's been informed of the absence policy already regarding that." It wasn't official, it was just simply understood that unless a female student was flat on her back or it was medically inadvisable, that she was to attend class regardless of any 'female problems'. "Do I need to ask Miss Collins the same about you, or can I expect you in class tomorrow?"
"...About that, sir," Doug said slowly, frowning. Somehow, he got the impression that Master Lee was going to nail him to the wall. "I don't know when I'm going to be able to return to class. Part of the side effects were...mental. Memory loss." It was an oversimplification, but it was essentially what had happened. It was just that he'd gone into it voluntarily.
"You have forgotten your class material?" Master Lee asked, looking at Doug closely, almost analytically, and with a grave expression on his face. "Is that the only mental side effect? You are not at risk of seizures, there was no nerve damage?" He paused, obviously in thought. "Is it permanent memory loss, Douglas?"
"I don't know." Doug would have probably sounded more frustrated if it weren't for the way Emma had locked away all the things that distracted him, including his emotions. There was so much he didn't know about whether Emma could put things back the way they were. "I believe just the memory loss, sir. No nerve damage as far as I know." In fact, he had something along the lines of a brand new body, but he wasn't sure that Master Lee would be able to comprehend that.
Master Lee stood up, and moved to a filing cabinet. He pulled out a drawer, and flipped through the folders in it, finally taking one out, and set it on the desk, opening it to a student record, for Ramsey, Douglas, A. "What does this say?"
"I don't understand the question, sir." Doug examined the card, having seen many others just like it with the students in lower belt level classes. He cocked his head, looking for some hidden gem of information that Master Lee expected him to see. "It says that I'm a black belt, working towards second degree, with teaching privileges."
"Do you think that changes because you are ..." For the first time, ever, Doug saw Master Lee struggle for words. "Injured? No." He took the card back from Doug, putting it into the folder and filing it away. "You earned that black belt. You earned a place here after I nearly did not let you come back into my school because you gave up. Why are you giving up now?"
That twinge of almost-frustration rose again in Doug's mind, and he frowned. "How can I have teaching privileges when I can't even remember the material to teach, sir?" he asked. "How do I still deserve a black belt when I don't have any of the knowledge I needed to earn it?"
"Do you -want- me to take it away?" Master Lee shrugged, seemingly apathetically, face blank - and yet, to Doug it must have been apparent that it was false, that the older Korean man was using the act of apathy to mean something. "Why can't you re-learn the material? Don't teach for a while. Why is your answer always to give up, Douglas?"
Doug's mouth flopped open, his brain incapable of putting words in it. No matter how many times Master Lee managed to deftly see right to the core of people and skewer them precisely, it never ceased to be startling and unexpected when it happened to you. "I...don't know, sir," he admitted, though the answer was probably more complicated. After all, Emma had tied off his emotions for the most part, and hope is an emotion. It wasn't precisely that he was fatalistic, but more that he had become so direct and single-minded in his thinking that he hadn't even considered the line of thought that Master Lee was apparently on.
"Are you physically capable of attending your class?" The question was not asked with malice, or sternness, it was entirely out of concern. "If you are not, we can focus on that. I can find you a class to take, or have someone work with you. I imagine Miss Collins could walk you through white belt material, she is very close to her belt test." Master Lee gestured out the small office window where Laurie was stretching and speaking to a classmate, both of them working together on a block that would be part of their testing material. "If you are..." he left it hanging, for Doug to answer.
"Physically, I don't seem to be having any problems, sir," Doug said, a decisiveness in his voice. And now that he'd had time to get a bit of color back in his skin, and begin building calluses, he was looking a bit better. And he would continue to look better as time went on. And muscles and joints weren't the problem at all. "With your permission, sir, I'll put in some extra review time, and I will be at class tomorrow at the regular time." Master Lee had nearly thrown him out once for all but quitting on him, Doug didn't want him to do it again.
"Good." Master Lee looked out over the floor, at the couple of black belts working out and who would not add extra stress on what he could see was a still very tired and weary Doug. He made a few mental notes, and returned his attention to Doug. "No sparring until you don't look like hell, Douglas. I don't want you booting up on my floor."
"Yes, sir," Doug replied. "I'll go get my bag out of the car." No time like the present, he supposed.
***
During class, Laurie and one of her classmates hit things off.
Laurie watched her companion move through the white belt form, trying to focus on the details as she would be showing where she was up to next, and she didn't want to get anything wrong.
"Move your foot a little more to the right." one of the black belts noted, keeping an eye on them from a distance.. "Your stance is still too narrow. If someone pushed you from the side, you'd fall right over."
"I do that all the time," one of Laurie's fellow students whispered with a grin. It wasn't that they couldn't speak during class, it was just that excessive frivolous chatter was frowned upon. But the occasional whisper flew under the radar for the most part, unless Master Lee was in an especially foul mood. But those moods were generally spared the newer students.
"Same here." Laurie whispered back with a grin, turning her head slightly to get a look at who was talking to her. "It's hard to get a wide enough stance when you come out of that combo."
Her classmate ducked his head and went back to the motions of the form as one of the black belts came back around, a sheepish grin directed at Laurie. He darted glances at her every so often as the class practiced.
"I'm Laurie, by the way." she whispered after they'd worked through their form. "I wouldn't happen to have some kind of weird sign on my back or something, would I?"
"I'm John," he replied in a whisper, with a little wave in lieu of reaching over to shake her hand, since they were a little too far away from each other for that. "Nope, no sign on your back," he answered with an easy smile. She'd noticed him noticing her, obviously.
"Nice to meet you, John." she said, and then faced front as the black belt signaled them to begin the second form. "So, were you admiring my mastery of our chosen art, or just looking at my fabulous ass?" she continued after a moment, her voice soft with a teasing lilt.
Laurie couldn't believe she was being so bold, but after all the things that had happened recently, and how insane her life was in general, something as normal as flirting outrageously with a cute guy seemed a balm to her frazzled state.
"And who's to say I can't do both at once?" John replied, a casual teasing in his voice to match Laurie's. He took another deliberate look down her body, knowing she was watching him this time, then nodded. "Definitely fabulous." He grinned, then snapped back to the form as the black belt's attention turned to him.
She snorted softly and then turned an innocent look on the black belt who simply raised an eyebrow at her. She was sure she hadn't been fooling anyone, but she figured they'd wait until after the lesson to give her the talk about paying attention. She continued to work on her form for a few more minutes, moving her legs into a wider stance, and crooking her elbow slightly on her punches so her arms didn't snap out straight, leaving her open for a strike that would break her elbow easily.
"So, you live close by?" she whispered after awhile.
"Why, you thinking of stalking me back there and playing 'Solsbury Hill' on a boombox in the rain at three in the morning or something?" John asked She bantered well, he liked that in a girl. And it didn't hurt that she was cute and a classmate, either. Some of the black belts were quite cute, but Master Lee had very firmly held opinions on the subject of dating in the dojo between instructors and lower belts, from what he'd heard.
"The original Peter Gabriel version, or the cover that Sarah McLachlan did?" Laurie asked after a time, practicing the forward jump, kick section of their form. "I prefer the Sarah McLachlan version but you might be a traditionalist, and I wouldn't want to offend your sensibilities."
Laurie had a feeling she might be moving toward getting asked out territory, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, he wasn't bad looking in a normal guy sort of way. But on the other, her life didn't exactly lend itself toward normal being safe. What if he was secretly some kind of brain sucking abomination hell-bent on the total subjugation of the entire human species?
It was at this point in time that she realised she should really get more sleep, or any sleep at all. The lack of said sleep seemed to be making her just a tiny bit weird.
"Original. Covers are evil. Except for Cake's cover of 'I Will Survive'. And maybe Smashmouth covering 'I'm A Believer'." She was knowledgeable about music. A definite plus in his book.
The pair kept mostly quiet for the rest of class, trading glances and smiles during downtime, and after the class ended and they had both changed out, John approached Laurie in the lobby. "Can I interest you in a frosty bottle of water?" he asked.
"Definitely." Laurie said, waving at Doug who appeared to be talking to one of the black belts. He didn't seem like he wanted to leave quickly, so she'd have time. "I have to go soon, but I think we have time for that."
"There's a mom-and-pop just around the corner. I usually stop there after class." He looked over at Doug, recognizing him as one of the black belts, though obviously a bit the worse for wear currently. "Boyfriend?" he asked curiously. He didn't suspect so, as he doubted Laurie would have been flirting the way she was if that was the case, but it didn't hurt to be sure.
"Nah, just a friend. We catch a lift into class together usually." Laurie noted, and then shooed John to go ahead of her. "I figure he'll be fine to wait for me for a little while. Lead on, Mcduff."
John snorted. "That's -lay- on, Macduff." He bit back the instinctive pun about laying and duffs. That was a bit premature, he thought, though she definitely seemed to appreciate his sense of humor. He preceded her to the door and pushed it open, gesturing gallantly as he held it for her. The fact that he got to sneak another look at her backside was just a side benefit.
Laurie went ahead of him, rolling her eyes as she did so but there was a smile on her face even so. "I claim artistic license then. Just better be flavored water you're getting me, is all I can say."
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