Characters: Zanna Zapata, Ji Shi Setting: The park, Thursday morning; dawn. Content: Work-safe! Summary: Tai chi is very, very early. Very early.
Zanna was about 90% sure that whoever had decided that Tai Chi needed to be done outside at dawn was actually looking through time, finding a way to ruin the teenager's Thursday. Or so it seemed to her, the girl who had been unceremoniously tossed out of bed while it was still dark in order to go to the class. It'll help you find balance, her father had assured her, and she'd gone without arguing because... well, because it sounded like something her mother would have said. The late Angeline Zapata had loved all things new-age: martial arts, acupuncture, meditation, feng shui. And Zanna just didn't have the heart to grumble about getting up early, when her dad was trying to bridge the gap her mother's death had left in their lives.
She'd managed to get dressed, stumble out of their apartment semi-coherently, and arrive at the smoothie shop down the block without wandering sleepily into traffic. There, she'd waited for ten minutes, staring at the dimmed "Open" sign like a lost puppy until it flickered to life - neon pink and filled with the promise of delicious fruit-blended goodness. Five minutes and one Pomegranate Passion (with a shot of straight caffeine added) later, she was on her way again, walking blearily toward the park with her messenger bag over her shoulder.
But she didn't make it to the Tai Chi class. Movement from the corner of her eye distracted her, and she paused halfway across the park, tilting her head at the lone martial artist. Staring was probably rude, but she wasn't awake enough to display good manners. Instead, she slid her mat from under her arm and spread it out, dropping onto it with her smoothie to just... watch. "That isn't Tai Chi," she observed finally, with the same intonation that she might have said 'the sky is blue' with.