Colleen Wing has the heart of the dragon (anotherpath) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-04-03 20:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, colleen wing, lie ren |
Who: Colleen and Ren
What: Waking up tethered
When: Morning of February 13th
Where: The Chikara Dojo
Warnings: Low
Status Log | Complete
Ren had never been a morning person. He much prefered to stay, curled up, warm in his bed, than he did needing to shuffle through, zombie-like, his morning routine. He was almost convinced that, if it weren’t for Nora and her boundless energy, there would be days when he didn’t leave the warmth of his bed at all.
Which is why, when he felt the warm body next to him, he didn’t even bother opening his eyes. He assumed that, at some point in the night, Nora had crawled into bed next to him. He pulled the blanket up to his chin, keeping a tight grip on it in case Nora tried to steal the covers again, and muttered, voice thick with sleep “have a bad dream?”
Whereas Ren was not a morning person, Colleen was. Part of it came from growing up in Scientology, her time in the Sea Org and the schedule she’d been forced to keep during that time. Even after escaping, some habits remained. But the morning as the sun started to rise? It was the best time for doing katas and centering herself for the day.
The night before, she’d been at one of the cage fights she took part in sometimes when she really needed money for something (usually a repair or the like) and so she had been in a deeper sleep than she otherwise might have been. But at some point, Colleen became aware of a presence beside her. That awareness popping into clear focus as she heard a voice beside her.
“What the hell!?”
Sitting up, she looked to the side where someone was seemingly sleeping. In her bed. In the sectioned off portion of the Chikara Dojo which served as her living quarters. Seriously what the fuck? Which was why she scrambled out of bed and grabbed her katana.
“Who the hell are you?”
It took a moment for Ren to register that that wasn’t Nora, or even Pyrrha’s voice, and he woke up quicker than he might normally have. He rolled out of bed, suddenly aware that he wasn’t in his own bed, or even his own bedroom, and that there was a very angry woman looking at him with a sword in her hand.
Quickly, he raised his hands. “I’m Ren,” Ren said, answering her second question for a lack of any sort of answer to her first. “I uh… don’t exactly know where I am,” he finished, hoping she’d believe him. It would a little annoying if the first thing he had to do after waking up was fend of an armed stranger.
Colleen just watched warily as Ren rolled out of bed, ready to defend herself if it came down to that. However, the body language seemed genuine and he looked familiar, as if she’d spoken to him before.
“You teach Wu Shu, right? You’re on the network.”
Which...probably should explain just what the hell had happened. She’d been on the network long enough to be more aware of the strange things that happened here. So perhaps someone waking up in her bed who shouldn’t? She still had her katana in hand, but she wasn’t as poised to strike as she had been once the pieces began to fall in place.
“You’re at the Chikara Dojo.”
Ren’s brows furrowed together as he tried to make sense of all of this. When the woman mentioned that he was at another dojo, some clarity at least, came to his eyes. He still didn’t know what had happened, or what he was doing in the Chikara Dojo, but at least he knew who was in front of him now.
“Colleen Wing, right?” he asked. “I’m really sorry for the wake-up. But I should probably go now.” Nora would be worried if she noticed he wasn’t in bed anymore, and a quick look around revealed that his scroll wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
Knowing exactly what was happening would be nice but at least she knew he wasn't some creep. Or that this was some sort of fair game tactic by the Scientology PIs.
“Yeah,” and then Ren mentioned leaving and she nodded. “Probably a good idea.” While it clearly wasn't Ren's fault, it was still awkward and she had things to do and Ren undoubtedly did as well. So placing her katana away, Colleen led Ren to the main part of the dojo to the door and was about to close the door when there was a pull and the sudden feeling of being pulled in the opposite window and crashing into Ren.
“Are you kidding me?” Seriously, what the hell?
Ren grimaced, rubbing his shoulder where he’d collided with Colleen, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Once the shock of the collision wore off, it didn’t seem like it was that difficult. “It looks like we’re stuck together,” he said. Literally.
It really wasn’t that hard to figure out, even if it was annoying. They each had their own lives to live and now there was this.
“Only in Orange County.” Pinching the bridge of her nose before dropping her hand and letting out a breath, Colleen looked to Ren then shrugged, “Want anything to eat or drink since we’re both up?” She’d be up anyway, though right now she’d probably be getting ready for morning katas but she’d put that on hold for now. They would also need to figure out how far away they could get before getting pulled back together as well. They did both have classes to teach after all.
Ren nodded. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day after all, and he never missed it if he could help it. “I could cook,” he offered, feeling like it was the least he could do after scaring her this morning and eating her food. Besides, he enjoyed cooking for others, even if they didn’t always enjoy some of the healthy additions he’d sometimes add to the meal. Speaking of cooking for others… “and would I be able to use your phone to text my roommates? They might worry if I’m not there this morning.”
“Do you have anything important to do today?”
“If you want. I can do my morning kata during that then.” Figuring out how to utilize time was important. Besides, she wasn’t about to turn down someone else cooking for her. It would probably be better than the fruit she’d have in yogurt with tea that was her normal breakfast. Though she did enjoy it.
As for the question...suddenly Colleen was once again glad that she didn’t live with anyone that she would need to explain this to.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Then on her schedule.
“One class in the afternoon, otherwise no. You?”
Ren started heading to where he assumed Colleen’s kitchen was, making sure that he didn’t get too far from her as he did so. He wouldn’t want to repeat the collision that had happened last time they had gotten too far away from one another. “Nothing I can’t miss during the day,” Ren said. He did have some classes at the university and he hated to skip them, but he doubted his professors would appreciate an unannounced visitor, and he wouldn’t want to drag Colleen to classes she likely had no interest in anyway.
“I do have a class to teach this evening. Maybe we could sit in on one another's classes?” It seemed they didn’t have a choice in the matter one way or another, unless one of them was going to cancel theirs. Ren needed the money from his class though, and since it was a drop-in class he knew that Colleen’s presence wouldn’t be frowned upon.
There wasn’t all that many places the makeshift kitchen could be given the layout of the Dojo and how everything was set up. So at least it wasn’t like there were a lot of places they could go where they’d get pulled back as they had as Ren had been trying to leave. Even so, Colleen instinctively made sure to go in the general direction as Ren so as not to have any repeats.
“I don’t think we have a say in the matter. But sure, that works.”
There were some things she wouldn’t be able to do for however long this went on, namely any cage fighting but her funds at least seemed to be stable enough at the moment where she didn’t need the immediate cash.
Ren opened the fridge and took a look inside, trying to decide what would be best to make. After a moment, he made up his mind and got to work. “I think it could be fun,” Ren said, smiling over his shoulder. “I don’t get as many chances to take other classes as I would like. I’m looking forward to learning from you.”
With a plan in place, the rest of the day seemed to go easily enough. Colleen’s students didn’t even question his presence at her own class and instead it was just a strange sort of….something to it. Honestly, Colleen didn’t know. As a general rule, she was standoffish around people unless it was in a class setting or Blake as Blake currently was her only actual friend. But as the time wore on, Colleen was getting more used to Ren and could feel herself relaxing.
And then it was evening and time for him to teach his own class, to which Colleen kept to the back, taking it all in. Much as with her morning katas, there was fluidity to the movements. Something familiar. So once Ren’s class was over, Colleen pushed herself away from the wall so that she could help with clean up before they headed back to the Chikara Dojo since Ren had roommates they’d otherwise have to deal with on top of the being tethered together thing.
Ren had rather enjoyed Colleen’s class. He had been meaning to check out other forms of martial arts for a long time now, though he’d never felt entirely comfortable using what meager funds he and Nora managed to scrounge up when they had been younger, and he was hesitant now even when they had a comfortable amount of funds.
It had been nice having her in her class too, especially with the extra help cleaning. He appreciated that she was alright with him staying at her dojo too. He couldn’t really remember the last time he and Nora hadn’t slept in the same place, but four people in the apartment was already more than enough, and he couldn’t imagine that adding a fifth, even just for a few days, would go over well with anyone.
“This was more fun than I expected being stuck to someone all day would be,” Ren said once they got back to the dojo.
Colleen had made sure to look into different styles of martial arts just because she liked to be aware, and depending on the classes, style did matter. And it wasn’t like she wouldn’t help clean up. How could she not.
Still, it did definitely make sense for them to stay at the dojo. She had her concerns that Ren could get pulled into the nonsense with Scientology but there really wasn’t all that much she could do about it besides warn him about it. From what she had seen, they hadn’t been followed that day at least.
“I have to say I agree. I didn’t know what I to expect, but it was actually kind of fun.”
It was lucky that they’d managed to get tethered together, Ren could admit. Out of everyone in the county, it seemed more likely than not that they would have been stuck with people who didn’t suit their temperaments, but Colleen seemed just about as reserved as Ren was, but not in a too-standoffish kind of way. He supposed there were a lot of people out there that thought Nora and Ren’s temperaments wouldn’t have meshed well either though, so it was hard to say definitively. But, as eager as he was to go home, he also didn’t think he wouldn’t mind being stuck to Colleen for however long this current OC weirdness would last.
“I normally run through my evening forms before bed,” he said, with the implication that he’d like to do so again tonight if Colleen didn’t mind. That was normally followed by some meditation, but he could meditate nearly anywhere, even if Colleen would rather stay up in the living area.
There were so many ways that this could have gone poorly. That much was clear. So the fact that she and Ren seemed to be similar enough in temperament that it wasn’t an issue was a good thing. She was probably more blunt in her assessment of situations, but as a rule she was still reserved and not nearly as outgoing as some others. So being stuck to Ren, who was similar, was at least a relief and not someone who was at complete odds to her personality.
“That sounds good to me. That’s usually when I do my evening forms as well.” At least when she hadn’t been in a cage fight. “Shall we get ready for that then?”
Ren smiled at her. “Well, it’s your house,” Ren said. “Did you want to start us off?” It seemed only fair for Ren to follow Colleen’s forms in this case instead of the other way around.
Depending on how long this lasted, Colleen had a feeling that they would be switching off on which forms they did. Which was fine by her. If there was one thing she appreciated about this random tethered together thing, it was that she’d at least have the opportunity to learn different things. It was one of the things she appreciated most about being out of Scientology in general. Being able to learn things at her own whim and desire.
“Sure.”
With them in the main dojo area and things to the side, Colleen got into position, waited for Ren to follow suit, and then began the kata, making sure to keep an eye on him in case she needed to reposition him for it to be accurate.
Ren had had plenty of practice following forms, and it was obvious that Colleen had a lot of practice making sure to go at a pace that was easy to follow. It didn’t take Ren long to fall into Colleen’s rhythm, and soon he was following her so closely that it would have to take a well-trained eye to detect that he was just a couple of milliseconds behind her movements.
He smiled at her, wider than his usual slight smile. This really was a lot of fun, and it wasn’t something he was able to do with most of his friends.
It was always nice having someone who could pick up on the forms easily enough. She loved teaching and giving her students a safe place to be instead of the streets where they could get into trouble, but it was also nice not having to worry about constantly needing to stop to correct someone’s stance as well.
Returning the smile, Colleen just quirked a brow in challenge before she picked up the pace. After all, Ren had it down, so now it was time to push some.
Let it never be said that Ren didn’t enjoy a good challenge, though he rarely broadcasted the fact. Once Colleen started picking up the pace, Ren followed suit, stepping a little closer to her. And then, once he was feeling comfortable with the pace, and because it felt natural, he added an extra high kick of his own, and gave Colleen a challenging smile.
Where Ren might not broadcast the fact he enjoyed a good challenge, Colleen? Well, she wasn’t shy about it. Yes, she held herself to a particular standard, didn’t let many people in. But if she was given a challenge? Well you best believe she would rise to it and exceed whatever was put forward. So once she noted the challenge offered to her? Of course Colleen took it in the next bit, doing a roundhouse kick and brought her wrist close to Ren’s own as if going to do a chop at him before stopping right before contact.
Though Ren had been fairly certain that Colleen wasn’t going to follow through with her chop, he’d still brought up his arm to block it, and then smiled at her. This was the most fun he’d had with someone outside of his team in a long time. He grapevined, turning them in a circle, and then dropped to sweep his leg under her, confident that he’d given her enough notice that she’d easily jump over his leg.
If Colleen were being honest, or asked about it, this was probably the most fun Colleen had basically ever had. It wasn’t like ‘fun’ was exactly promoted in Scientology or the Sea Org. And then getting out and dealing with the bullshit of the PIs hired to make her life hell? She’d take the fun where she could get it.
Go figure it was by being tethered to a complete stranger.
Even so, she easily jumped over Ren’s leg and just smirked. Honestly, if the schedule of the day was going to be how they spent however long this lasted? Colleen wasn’t even bothered.