Who: Ren and Jace What: Jace drops into one of Ren's classes When: Recently Where: The dojo Ren works at Ratings/Warnings: Low/none Status: Complete | Partner Thread
Ren looked over his class of drop-in students. Most of the class was made up of familiar faces: the people who took wu shu seriously and used any chance they could to get in more practice time, who were working on their own, more advanced forms, and the people who couldn’t afford to go to the regular classes but still wanted to learn, who were running through the form that Ren had shown them at the beginning of the class. But there were always unfamiliar faces in his classes too. People who wanted to give it a shot before signing up to take a more regular class, or people who were just looking for something to do on a Wednesday night.
Ren made sure to give those people a little extra attention, whether it was watching them quietly or offering some tips to help them move more smoothly or get more power behind their kicks. One of the new people was really quite skilled; he’d obviously studied martial arts somewhat elsewhere. Ren stood a little further back, watching him go through the form.
***
Jace didn't know what he was going to do about the girl he'd been seeing from Alec’s class. She was dropping subtle hints, pushing, for them to get more serious about one another but he wasn't sure if that's what he wanted. It wasn't that he wanted to date other people he just wasn't sure he wanted to be serious with her. He'd heard about the drop in class from one of the other teachers at his gym so he was doing what he always did when he needed to figure things out - he was training.
This wasn't a style he was familiar with but the man leading it had taken time to explain and demonstrate what they were doing at the beginning of the class, and now that he'd gone through the form a few times he was feeling that same calm he always did when training creeping up on him. He got the same feeling in his cousins pole dancing class but it wasn't as strong. He noticed the class leader watching him and he acknowledged the man with a brief nod, not pausing or stopping as he kept moving through it. He wanted to talk to him, find out more about wu shu but he didn't want to distract him from the other students. From his other students. He wasn't running this class and he wasn't going to be that dick that distracted another teacher like that.
***
Ren smiled a little to himself when the man seemed undistracted by Ren’s presence, and he moved on to help a child who seemed to be having problems with one of the kicks in the form. Before Ren knew it, the class was over. He waved to those who said goodbye to him, and then moved on to prepare to clean the dojo before he went him.
***
Jace hung back after the class had ended, dragging his feet gathering his things together hoping that everyone would clear out so he could talk to the teacher. He let out a quiet sigh when he realized everyone was gone and made his way over to speak to the young man. “Sorry I didn’t catch your name at the start of the class. I was hoping to find out some more about this style though.” He said.
***
“I’m Ren,” Ren responded. He furrowed his eyebrows briefly in concentration. “And you were Jace, right?” He tried to make a point of remembering everyone’s names at the start of class, and while he wasn’t always successful, he was pretty sure he was right with Jace’s name. “I can answer any questions you have.”
***
Jace gave him a friendly smile as he extended his hand to shake. “Jace Wayland,” he said, introducing himself. It might not be his last name in the eyes of the courts but it’s what he went by. Michael Wayland had raised him after all. “First one that comes to mind - is what other style is it closest to. Some of it seemed really familiar to me from my other classes but I couldn’t quite place which ones. I’ve studied all over stylistically.”
***
Ren mulled over the question for a moment. After a moment, he answered, listing a couple of other Chinese martial arts styles. “And I’d say it’s fairly similar to tai chi, though tai chi focuses more on inner strength than outer strength. Though, many modern martial arts draw inspiration from wu shu. What kind of martial arts do you normally practice?”
***
Jace thought through the list of styles he’d studied before just deciding to name the two he taught. “Aikido and Muay Thai primarily right now. Tai Chi was a few years ago but then the teacher moved and I changed classes. I kept wanting to pick it back up but my schedule never let that work for me.”
***
“Aikido has always seemed like something I would like to learn,” Ren said. His first love would always be wu shu; he’d trained in it since he was a boy and had competed internationally in it. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t open to learning new martial arts. Especially not since dreaming; the combat style in his dreams wasn’t quite like anything he’d ever heard of before. “There are a number of Tai Chi videos that you can follow in your own living room, if you were still interest.”
***
“I teach an Aikido class if you ever want to stop by and check it out. It's normally Tuesday's but July’s going to have to be flexible because of my training schedule for competition.” He thought for a moment. “What video would you recommend I start with to study at home?”
***
Ren gave the name of one of his favourite videos for people who were interested in tai chi but already had some sort of martial arts training. It wasn’t for complete beginners, and there were a couple of more advanced moves thrown in, but it was a good one for anyone who was interested in learning ore. “I would like that very much.” He bit his lower lip. “Unfortunately, I don’t really have the funds to take any new classes. I do appreciate the offer though.”
***
Jace pulled his phone out of his duffel bag to put the title into the notes app he used so that he could remember it for when he got home. He thought for a minute. “How about a trade then - I work with you one on one on Aikido and you can teach me more about Wu Shu.”
***
A very slight smile crossed Ren’s lips. “That sounds like a good idea,” Ren answered.