Cascadia's Fault

Fighting and Words

Caz took a closer look and realized they were still in the clothes from the morning and dripping wet. "Beginning weaving. It very quickly devolved into one of those string mazes and b*****e. At least it was inside."

Jem sneezed, "How do people live in this weather? Why do people live in this weather?"

"You'll get used it, but you haven't been here that long. When did you move?" Caz asked.

Johnny shoveled in stir fry, "Right before Christmas. In Florida, it was eighty degrees. It was forty here. I'm almost positive it's still forty degrees right now in freaking June."

"Yeah, that's a change," Tal said.

Caz glanced up and saw CJ with Noa hot on his heels. She sighed and put it behind her. Short of tossing her into the ocean, she knew she was going to have to suck it up for the next two months. They slid in next to Jem since Johnny was at the end of their bench.

Talk turned to how the different workshops went. CJ had gone to beginning wood carving and Noa an advanced painting class. Tal sharing their adventures in weaving had everyone laughing and feeling more than a little sorry for the poor old woman who had been stuck with them... and more than a little grateful for a two-hour lunch break.

CJ got Tal to promise to come to their Earthdawn game he'd planned for after dinner. Noa wanted to watch before committed. Caz figured she just wanted in so she could stalk Johnny some more. CJ, Jem, and Tal had lunch cleanup which left her and Johnny to deal with Noa. She decided to leave them to it. Noa was a pretty girl, maybe Johnny didn't mind the attention.

Caz scooped up her tray, intending to leave, "I'd better..."

"...show me that sparring technique we talked about," Johnny finished.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She'd been halfway up, tray in hand and thinking she'd grab a nap before the next round of workshops.

Say goodbye to sleeping, she thought.

Johnny was still talking when she tuned back in, "...see you later, Noa, I think you'll enjoy the game once you see it in action."

Caz could feel him nudging her along. Definitely didn't want her company, then. They dumped their food in the compost bin and placed the trays on the ledge. Johnny kept her moving towards the door, leaving no room for Noa to shoehorn her way in.

Once outside and down the stairs, Caz stopped and flipped her hood up against the rain, "Okay, I saved you from Noa. I'm going to take a nap."

"Oh, no, you don't. Now, we have to hide so she doesn't find us again. And we agreed to talk later. It's later. We'll head to the dojo. Do you think that's what they call it," he wondered.

Caz ground her teeth. Johnny was already hunched against the stubborn wet of the day, strolling toward the dojo while she stood there thinking very nasty things at his back. She had a choice: follow or ignore him. Ignore him, and he would just hunt her down again later, and Noa would wonder why she hadn't shown him her mythical sparring move. Follow him and she was going to have to give answers to questions she didn't necessarily have all the answers to now.

Awesome.

Giving up, she flipped the collar of her vest further up and headed down the path. He was waiting inside, holding the door open. She scraped off the vest and hoodie, the relief from the cold and wet immediate, then hung them on the hooks next to Johnny's. Caz removed her boots out of habit having been taught no one stepped foot on the workout floor with shoes on first. She rather studiously ignored Johnny as he wandered the perimeter of the mats, and she moved to the center.

"So, do I really get to beat the crap out of you, or was that just for show?"

Johnny flicked her a look. Caz was surprised to see irritation here. He gave off a vibe of being so easy-going – pushy, yes, but good natured. Seeing him grumpy seemed strange.

She waited.

One thing she knew from her work with animals and men on the ranch was that patience was the better part of valor when confronting anything angry, frightened, or cornered.

Finally, he slipped off his boots and stood before her on the mat. "What's the first position you learned from your father?"

Her brows popped up, "That's not why you brought me here."

"No, but it's a good place to start."

She heaved a breath, "Okay, right leg back, bringing up that knee first, then kicking your foot as high as you can without losing your balance on your left."

After twenty, she had him switch sides. She began to wonder if he just wanted a martial arts lesson after all, when he said, "You were really born with green hair."

Caz heard the statement of fact for what it was. He no longer wondered from the question he'd asked yesterday – was it only yesterday? – on the bus. They were halfway through the kicks on the left leg.

"Yes."

"Why."

Her leg swung in time with his, "They don't know. No one knows. The way my parents tell it, I had black hair with tiny green tips the moment I was born, and blue eyes. Not completely unusual, lots of babies have blue eyes when they're born, and my father has blue eyes. It's a trait in his family, the Aoimoku, which means, unironically, more or less 'blue-eyed.' I mean, there are some Mongolian tribes who have lighter hair and eyes. His happens to be one of them."

"That doesn't explain the green hair. Or it turning red. Or your eyes turning red," Johnny followed her into horse pose, punching out his fists.

She was silent, letting her breath push out between her teeth with each punch, then said, "No, it doesn't. There's an anomaly in my DNA. My parents had it tested when I was a baby, see if there were any birth defects. But, as I grew normally, developed as I was supposed to, they eventually accepted it as quirk in my genetics."

"And changes in color?" Johnny kept in sync with her punches, not easy when holding horse for so long, but Caz figured with the way he could fly through the air, he had to have some muscle.

She came to a standing position, turning to face him. She had an easier time having the conversation without looking him in the eye.

Caz figured he knew it, too, when he turned as well. It hadn't been much of workout, but it felt like she'd run miles. Johnny stared down at her, his own breath quick, as well, until he pulled her braid back over her shoulder. He fanned the tip much like she had done earlier before going to class and stared at the strand of pure grass green."

"It scares you."

Again, a statement of fact. She pulled her braid from his fingers, "Now, I suppose you want me to show you how to flip you over my shoulder."

"Nice dodge," Johnny smirked. "Fine. Let's see if you can actually flip me over your shoulder."

Caz eyed him.

He stood a solid foot taller – she was five feet nothing – and likely outweighed her by eighty or ninety pounds. Oh, yeah. Dumping him on his a*s was going to feel reeeealllly good after their little 'talk.'