Logan & Cammie

[x-scorpion.livejournal.com]

A training session takes a bit of a different turn as Cammie is assigned a book to read and asked a very important question.

Cammie was stretching, waiting for her weekly session of getting her ass handed to her. She enjoyed it, more than she should really. But that was because she was learning something. And going up against someone who could not only take it but lay her flat on her ass 100% of the time.

It was something that made her feel alive. Cammie really loved to fight. Her attitude today was 'Bring it On.' As always.

Logan walked in with a slim book held in one hand. "Go take a run, kid." he told her. "Lap around the building should make sure you're nice and warmed up." he said with a small smile.

Cammie rolled her eyes but didn't hesitate. She wasn't here to argue with a teacher, at least not about a run, "Don't get too comfortable," she said, "I've been getting faster," she said simply and left. It wasn't a lie. Of course, the goal of a long distance run was to pace yourself, something she had learned - very painfully - the first few times she did this. She was no longer passing out wheezing halfway around the grounds from taking off like a shot. Like she was running from something.

Now, she may have come back panting and half dead, but she came back in under twenty minutes.

Even if she couldn't say more than a few words when she did return.

He knew she'd be about twenty or so for the run, and be useless for a few minutes after that while she got her wind back. It was getting better but she had a long way to go yet before she'd avoid gassing out in a longer encounter. Another drawback to her quick-kill power - she had no real stamina.

He knelt on the middle of the mats in seiza, waiting patiently for his student to return. Today was going to be a little different and she'd probably hate it, but to him it was at the core of everything he was trying to teach her.

When she came back in she had to stop herself from falling face first on the mats. She did exhale a large, exhausted breath, her legs aching. "So, how fast?" she managed, after about a minute of catching her breath.

"Twenty-two minutes." he said. "Siddown, kid. Like me." he said, waiting for her to assume her best shot at seiza. "Gonna be doing something a little different today." he told her. "More talky, less punchy."

"But I like the punchy," Cammie said, assuming the sitting position the best she could. "I mean, I could be wrong, but you've never really seemed like the talking type."

"There's things you learn by doing, and things you learn from talking." he said, tossing her the slim tome. "Homework, kid. Read that." he said. "It'll probably seem to you like a bunch of dead Japanese dude babbling about all kinds of crap you don't care about." he noted. "Read it anyway. Next class we'll be talking about it."

Cammie caught it and looked it over, "The Five Rings? What, like the horror film?" she said, looking it over, "...Or not..." it obviously wasn't related to the movie at all. Just as well, she only read movie books when the movies were actually interesting and not some sort of supernatural bullshit. "Okay, read it in a week. I can do that."

Logan nodded. "Now for a little fun Q and A." he said. "And I got a challenge for you for next week." he said. "See if you've learned anything since we started here."

"Q&A, Tests, this is sounding a lot like school suddenly," Cammie said, trying to shift to get a bit more comfortable. However he was managing not to have his legs fall asleep alluded her. "What's the challenge? And you know, the questions."

Logan grinned. "Every day is a test, kid." he said. "And in this case, it's boxing gloves." he said, waiting to see if she made the connection. "Which we'll take down to Medical after." he elaborated.

"...To see how bad off they are, huh?" Cammie said, drawing the connection. "Well, they'll fare a lot better than they would two months ago."

"We'll see." he said noncommittally. "And before I put you through the wringer, got one thing for you to think about." he said. "Don't answer me right now, but read the book and come back next week ready to talk." he said. "Question's this: Why do you fight?" he said.

She raised an eyebrow and looked back down at the book. There were a lot of reasons to fight. Most of them didn't really matter in here like they did on the streets. She didn't have to prove herself tougher than anyone. Prove that she could get people to back off or prove... anything, really. Other than being worth someone's time and effort and money, which in a way was more stressful. Cammie thought on the question for a moment, "Yeah, seems like it'd be an easy answer." If she could quote a movie she'd go with the speech from Salt Lake City Punk. Except that didn't even fit anymore either. And she had never been punk for ideological reasons anyway. "So read the book then answer the question. No before and after? Compare and contrast and all that crap?"

"We'll talk more about it next week. About what you come up with, and about why I do." he said, then unfolded his legs effortlessly to come to his feet. "Enough talk, though. Now we're gonna work up a sweat." he said with a somewhat evil look in his eye.

Cammie stood the best she could on legs that still tingled with the after effects of being sound asleep, "This is going to be one of those sessions that's going to make me wish I was dead, isn't it?" she said, sighing melodramatically. "You're one evil bastard."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." he grinned.