Chapter Text
The midsummer sun beat down on the highway, waves of heat emanating off the asphalt, blurring Weiss’s vision as she stared into the distance, not really paying attention to the road. She wished her mind was anywhere else. She wished the dark red Honda in front of her was any other color, anything other than the color of that hoodie. She wished the radio would stop playing that song she sang so often, the one with the cheery melody betrayed by its sorrowful words. She wished she’d taken down the bracelet that hung from the rearview mirror, never quite being able to bring herself to, never quite able to move on. It had only been three weeks, after all.
“In one hundred feet, turn left onto Route 10. Your destination will be on your right.”
This was stupid. She knew it was stupid. It would be just like that pottery class, and that movie club, and that sushi class–actually, that sushi class was enjoyable, up until the food poisoning later that evening. Regardless, Weiss had little faith in the class to distract her for the better part of an hour, much less show her a good time. She wasn’t the kind of person who did martial arts, anyway. She’d been a business major, for christ’s sake. Every job she’d ever had involved sitting in a chair for eight hours a day.
So when she pulled into the parking lot with the “Spirit of the Heart Martial Arts and Wellness” sign posted up next to it, she considered leaving. Days off were precious. The unfinished game of Civ V and unopened bottle of Riesling in the fridge were calling her name. And yet, she found herself getting out of the car regardless as she watched a small child, not more than seven, march confidently into the building, followed quickly by her mother. If a little girl could do this, so could she.
Surprisingly, the first thing she was met with when she opened the door was a small black and white ball of fluff, assaulting her legs with its adorable little paws and two-inch jump. Holding in the schoolgirl-like squee that was no doubt building in her, she bent down and gave it a socially appropriate number of pets. Restraining herself around dogs was… difficult, to say the least.
“I see you’ve met Charcoal already! He just loves new people. Also loves being held, by the way.”
Weiss could barely contain her glee as she swiftly picked up the little dog. “He’s lovely. My name is Weiss, I’m here for the 4:30 class?”
The older woman who’d greeted her smiled wide. “Absolutely! Come on in! Leave your shoes in one of the cubbies there, and we’ll get started soon.” Finally glancing in the direction of the voice, she noticed the woman was short, maybe four feet tall, and bore a walking stick. “We’ll formally introduce ourselves later, but you can call me Maria. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Weiss.”
Weiss’s doubts returned in force. Somehow, she didn’t believe a short, disabled old woman would be a good martial arts instructor. Still, she kept herself from leaving as Maria turned away, towards the open room where several other people were milling about. “Name and pronouns circle in one minute! Grab two canes, against the wall!”
Weiss barely had time to wonder what she meant before everyone began congregating around a bucket filled with sticks. Not tree sticks, but solid inch thick, taped at one end for a grip kind of sticks. Grabbing two, she took a quick glance around at the other students, noting a wide age range, between the little girl she’d seen walking in and the other short, older woman who seemed quite familiar with Maria. And, soon enough, they’d all circled up in the middle of the wood floor, with ample space to stretch and move.
“Alright! Now, I want everyone to assume a confident pose.” Maria had set her walking stick down, taking up a solid pose with her hands on her hips. “Feet planted firmly, no slouching. Notice how you feel in yourself, how you feel connected to the ground. Now! Move like you just don’t care about anything right now. Like this class sucks.” She hunched back over, staring off into the distance, and Weiss followed suit, immediately noticing something inside her drop. “And back to a confident pose!” And just like that, just in standing differently, she felt more in control. She just felt better.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so awful.
“Names and pronouns! I am Magnificent Maria-sensei! I use she and they pronouns!”
The other old woman next to her spoke next. “Caroline Cordovin. She pronouns.”
They continued around the circle for the handful of remaining people, Weiss coming in last. Despite years of training in business acumen, she was still terrible at remembering names. Oh well. She could just as easily not come back.
“Alright, it’s time for our first warmup song! Caroline, would you lead us through the warmups?”
Physical activity was something she’d never prepared for, and it showed. After just three minutes of movement, she was already sweaty and exhausted, ready to get in her car and drive back to her wine and strategy games.
“Two canes! Grab your canes and link up with a partner!”
Well, she could at least see what the canes are all about. She grabbed hers, but found herself staring into the group of people, unsure of what to do next.
“Blake, why don’t you pair up with Weiss? We’re going to do sinawalis, so go easy on her.”
A dark mop of hair nodded, and the person attached to said mop ambled up across from Weiss. To her dismay, they were rather gorgeous, with that mop framing amber eyes and pointed features, accompanying a lean, toned frame, clad in black leggings and a crop top. “Hey. Blake, if you don’t remember.”
“Weiss. Um… I am not certain what we’re doing,” she admitted as the rest of the group began swinging their sticks at each other. It certainly looked controlled, but it was beyond her.
“No worries. This is called a sinawali. It’s basically like… do you play fighting games ever? Like Tekken or Smash?”
Weiss shook her head.
“Okay. Basically, this is just a simple pattern that you can keep repeating, and then do more stuff with. But we’ll just start with the basic pattern today. So. Take one cane, the one in your right hand, and swing it at me slow, like you’re gonna hit my head… yeah, like that. I’m gonna do the same thing, and our canes are gonna hit each other.”
clak
“Just like that. Now. Keep going with that swing, and come down and try to hit my knees. I’m gonna do the same thing, just opposite.”
clak
“See how you kind of drew a half-circle? Now we’re gonna do that with the other side. Nope, like mirrored, like… yeah, like that. Okay, I’m gonna do it too.”
clak clak
“And then we just keep going between those two.”
It felt… strangely natural. Blake was clearly a good teacher, but the movements felt almost as though she knew them all along. They kept up the rhythm for a couple cycles, but after a moment, Weiss lost control and whiffed.
“Wait, I’m sorry, I screwed up. I feel as though I get turned around, especially when I’m focusing on my right hand. I’m left-handed, so it might be weird getting used to leading with my right…” Why was she rambling? She usually doesn’t ramble like this. What’s going on? Had Ruby rubbed off on her this much?
“Hey. It’s okay. Let me guess, you’re used to getting everything right on the first go, right?” She’d heard those words volleyed at her in a mocking tone too many times, teasing her for being the princess who always got what she wanted. Yet, when she looked up at Blake, she was disarmed by the warm smile and sincerity behind those golden eyes. “This is gonna take a bit to get right, and that’s like, fine. Good, even,” they continued. “Martial arts is all about muscle memory, and muscle memory is all about repetition. Let’s try it again, and you can start with your left if you want.”
She led in with her left, and found it slightly easier to keep track. However, she kept her attention on her right, which Blake seemed to notice.
“Don’t focus on one side.” Her suggestion barely cut through the constant clacking of wood on wood. “Don’t focus at all, actually. Just kinda look at me and let your body feel it out.”
“What? How do I do that?”
“Just look at me instead of the canes.”
Well now, that was even more difficult. Holding threatening eye contact she could do, but in a non-intimidating way? So she did her best to let her gaze soften as she met with Blake’s stare.
“Feel yourself grounding up through your feet, that connection with the floor, keep breathing!” Maria’s reminders echoed throughout the room, even over the din of the canes.
And all of a sudden, it had been minutes since they’d stopped. Their rhythm had sped up a little, yet they were still going, keeping a perfect one-two-three-four loop, and Weiss wasn’t even thinking about it. In fact, she wasn’t thinking much at all, simply letting herself feel the flow that had found her, the repetitive motions almost starting to relax her.
Until she realized that she’d been holding eye contact with Blake for several minutes now, and immediately lost the rhythm as she flushed with embarrassment. Her fight or flight instincts revved up again, which had been reduced to largely just flight. What was with her today?
“Shit, I am sorry, I just–”
“Dude, it’s okay,” Blake laughed. “It’s gonna take some time to sink in. You picked that up pretty damn quick, actually. I’m impressed.”
Some little part of her lit up, as though she were a cat that had been given a treat. “Thank you. It has been–”
“Aaaaaand yamete! Bow to your partners!”
“–fun.” She bowed to Blake, following the motions of the rest of the class. It had been fun, strangely.
Maria never slowed down for a second. “Canes to the side! We’re gonna practice our blocks. White belts and Weiss with me, everyone else with Cordovin!”
Another song crept into the room, a bit slower, yet still powerful in its beat. In time with the music, Maria demonstrated the three basic blocks–low, middle, high. A couple of the other students in her group seemed to know all three, but she and one of the little girls ended up focusing just on low, finding the movement, feeling the block land over her knee. After a handful of minutes, she found herself able to throw the block over either side at will, switching between left and right, once again finding that flow in her body.
The end came far too quickly, to her surprise. 5:45 rolled around and they circled up once again, this time to bow and recap their lesson. The class after them had already begun trickling in, a couple boys in all black sitting by the windows, shooting the shit. The entryway was quite small and quite jam-packed, so Weiss stood back and gave Charcoal some more love as the place emptied. Eventually, it was just Weiss and Blake, putting their shoes back on and packing up their water bottles.
“It was lovely meeting you, Blake. Thank you for teaching me.”
Blake chuckled. “Good meeting you too. Am I gonna see you again on Thursday?”
There had been so many moments where her answer would’ve been ‘no’. Yet, she found herself feeling better than she had in days. And the breakup? She didn’t even think about it for a full hour. A new record!
“You will.”
Blake smiled, and she could feel herself smiling too. “See ya then. Have a good rest of your weekend!”
“You too!” she called after them.
As soon as she got in the car, she realized how sore she was. Her arms, in particular, felt more akin to jelly than flesh as she gripped the steering wheel. Unfortunately, that moment was one where her eyes decided to glance up at the rearview mirror and catch a glimpse of Ruby’s old bracelet, still hanging. Suddenly, her arms were the least of her problems, and her heart took up its now-familiar post of sorrow. She’d get over it, she kept telling herself. Eventually.