Chapter Text
Luz had lost count of how many times she’d ended up pinned beneath Blight. The precise arch of her brow and near snarl became a routine sight for Luz each time they were paired together for sparring nights. Which became more and more frequent as Luz advanced through the belt forms.
“You know,” Luz said, “you’re welcomed to kick my ass without the demon eyes.”
Blight didn’t flinch, nor did she break eye contact as her hand moved from Luz’s wrist to wrap around her thumb. In one practiced movement, Blight yanked Luz’s hand, sending a bolt of pressure down Luz’s arm.
“Un-“ Luz reared her head back til it touched the blue matted carpeted floor, “-necessary!” She lunged her head forward, only narrowly missing Blight’s as she rolled over to the space beside Luz.
“Did you just try to head butt me?” Blight said.
Luz sat up and looked at the girl, “yeah, I did. I don’t know if you noticed, but my hands were a little full.”
“Lilith says that’s the stupidest move you could pull in a combat situation.” Blight stood up and adjusted the sleeves of her black gi. The steady look in her eyes made something in Luz itch.
“Well Eda says that a good fighter,” Luz paused and rolled onto her back, propping her hands on either side of her head, “is resourceful.” Damn, she was gonna look so cool.
She did not look cool.
When Luz swung her legs forward, her hands did not correspond. The moment her feet touched the floor, her upper half flailed backward, causing Luz to cascade back to where she had started like a fish out of water. She was vaguely aware of the sound of laughter that escaped her sparring partner before she noticed a hand offered to help her up.
“I think there’s a reason one of us has a black belt and the other is stuck at brown.” Blight said, pulling Luz up to her feet. Luz couldn’t help the smirk that played at the corner of her mouth.
“If by ‘stuck’ you mean, taking my time to be the most lethal weapon in Bonesborough, then I can’t really argue with you.” Luz let go of Blight’s hand to undo the velcro of her gloves. Blight followed suit, undoing her chin strap and pulling her head guard off to reveal a collection of loose strains of auburn and minty hair plastered to her face.
“Pretty sure the point of all this is to avoid the weapons, Noceda,” the girl pulled out what was left of her ponytail and shook it free of tangles. Luz’s eyes followed her hand as Blight ran her fingers through the sweat clumped strains. Luz felt something inside her itch again, the word for it sat on the tip of her tongue. It wasn’t until she noticed a pair of golden eyes watching her that she realized she’d been staring. Heat peppered her cheeks as Luz pulled her eyes away from Blight entirely to take her own head guard off. She made a point to keep her head ducked down and pointed away from the minty hair as she ruffled her own sweaty locks.
“Water break?” Blight said. Luz only allowed herself to look at the girl through the row of mirrors that decorated the wall in front of them. In the mirror, Luz could see that Blight was also more interested in the knit of the blue padded carpet they stood on than she was in addressing Luz directly. The mirror must’ve been what made Blight’s cheeks look so red.
“A water break sounds good.”
The girls retreated to the dojo’s back room that housed the bathrooms and a store of lockers for select students to use. Blight was one of those select students. She opened one on the bottom row, the one with the word ‘Mittens’ scribbled out covered up with a sheet of notebook paper that simply read ‘Blight’ in a cursive script. The paper was held there by a little magnet of a cartoon character.
“That little guy wouldn’t be the one and only Otabin, now would it?” Luz said, leaning down towards Amity. There were no mirrors around to blame for the deepened shade of red that claimed Blight’s complexion.
“It’s useful,” she muttered and the smile on Luz’s face only widened.
“It’s useful and adorable.”
Blight’s eyes snapped to Luz, a number of equations rushing behind her eyes. Luz knew this look. It’s the look she wore when she was waiting for an opponent to make a move. Luz decided to crouch down next to Blight so she could level her own gaze to the girl. “You can say it, you know.”
“Say what exactly?” The sarcasm that accompanied the question hung in Luz’s ears.
“Say that you think the magnet is cute, and that you like it because it’s cute.”
The girl rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying that.”
“Come on Blight, we know it’s true.” Luz forward enough to rest her chin on top of the locker door, “and it won’t kill you to at least admit it.”
Blight’s eyes darted around the room, like she was afraid of getting caught. Her brows dug deep into the pinkened hue painted across her nose. “Fine, it’s cute,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry, what?” Luz turned her head, cupping her hand around her ear. “I don’t think I caught that.”
“I said it’s cute, dammit!” Blight roared, “I like it cause it’s cute!”
Luz couldn’t stop any of the smug that creeped into her smile, even if she wanted to. “Was that so hard, Blight?”
“You make everything hard, Noceda.” She punctuated the statement by clicking the locker shut. She had a black Hydro flask in her hand. Luz stood up and offered her hand. Instead of the feeling of small fingers wrapped around her palm, Luz was given a cold metal bottle and a devilish grin. Luz took a step back as Blight rolled onto back and performed the most pristine handspring.
Luz’s jaw hung from her skull as Blight straightened her uniform, the smirk never leaving her face. She chuckled when she looked back at Luz then she said, “you wanting to catch flies or something?”
Luz clamped her mouth shut, then added, “you know, I’d be very offended if I wasn’t so jealous.”
“Jealous?” Blight plucked her bottle out of Luz’s hand.
“Yeah, jealous!” Luz swept her hands in front of her, “I’ve been practicing that for months!”
“Months, huh?”
“Now you’re just rubbing it in.”
“No, I’m not, really,” Blight took a sip of her water, “I’m surprised.”
“Surprised?”
“Yeah, it should be easy with a figure like yours,” once the words left her mouth and hit her ears, Blight almost dropped her water. “Not that I’ve been noticing your figure, or anything like that! I just mean you’re pret— pretty lightweight! And flexible! No wait—“
The poor girl was saved by her disgruntled mentor poking her head past the door frame. “Last I checked, water breaks didn’t take up the entire class time. Wrap it up before we close out.”
“Yes ma’am!” Luz and Blight said in unison before Lilith left.
Blight made it halfway across the room before noticing that Luz hadn’t been following her. “You coming?” She asked.
“Yeah, I’m just gonna grab a few sips from the sink first.” Luz said turning towards the lavatory sign.
“Do you not have a bottle?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t really have anywhere to put it.” Luz resisted the urge to pick at her nails.
Blight looked at her long enough to blink twice before holding out her own bottle. Luz wasn’t the type to worry over germs, but something caused her to hesitate. That feeling that had been pulling at the back of her mind reached down and tickled the inside of her stomach. Blight noticed her pause then said, “it’s fine if you don't want to, but I’m happy to share if you want something that isn’t rusty sink water.” Luz watched her eyes wander the tan walls as she waited for a response. Before she had a chance to make up her mind, Luz’s legs sprung towards the offer. Blight watched as Luz’s fingers wrapped around the flask, a light blush coloring her cheeks as she did. Luz smiled her thanks as she unscrewed the lid and walked towards the exit with the girl. She tried not to think about how the cool metal felt against her lips or the way her stomach tensed when the water hit her tongue.
It tasted better than rusty sink water.
* * *
“You know handsprings are just for showing off, right kid?” Eda said perched from her chair in front of the mirror wall.
Luz was laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling above her. The weight of defeat anchored her to the floor after ten failed handspring attempts. She sucked the humid air of the empty dojo into her lungs. She winced as she sat up to face her instructor, her stomach muscles aching from the repetitive floundering. “Why is it so easy for everyone else?”
“By everyone else, you mean Blight.”
“Of course I mean Blight!” Luz sailed back to the floor. “She can do it, and not even break a sweat. It’s not fair!”
“That’s because Blight’s been doing this thing her whole life, kid.” Luz heard the chair creak as Eda stood up. The carpet muffled her steps until she was close enough to lean over her student. “Not to mention she comes from a family of gymnasts.”
“Ugh!” Luz used her hands to shield her eyes from Eda’s gaze. “I just wanna be badass, like Blight.”
If Luz wasn’t refusing to look at her instructor, she’d see the smallest smirk tugging at the corner of Eda’s mouth. “You’re as badass as they come, kid.”
“Yeah right,” Luz finally pulled her hands away from her face, she fixed her mentor with a flat stare.
“You are!” Eda reached down to pull Luz to her feet, “so badass in fact, that I actually have a proposition for you.” Luz looked at her instructor and waited. “So, you know how Summer Fest is coming up?”
“Yeah?”
“And how we usually set up a public demonstration to show off our students’ skills?”
“You mean advertise the studio?” Luz crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“Same thing,” Eda dismissed the comment with a wave, “Lily and I have been working on a list of the students we want on the stage, and your name came up.”
Luz dropped her arms to her sides, “wait really?”
“Yes really. Truth is, we’re both quite impressed with the progress you’ve made the last few years,” Eda placed her hand on Luz’s shoulder, “and we think you deserve to be a part of the demonstration with our top students.”
Luz let the offer swim around her thoughts. Summer Fest was how she’d found Clawthorne Martial Arts Studio in the first place. She remembered the way she clung to her mother’s arm each time a student threw another student over their shoulder. Luz remembered one student in particular, who ended the demonstration by performing an upper level belt form. The precision of each step and punch along with the timing of each little breath reminded Luz of the way a tiger moved through grass. The girl’s steady golden eyes pierced themselves into Luz’s memory. “Isn’t the demonstration usually for the black belts?”
“We make occasional exceptions whenever it seems appropriate,” Eda replied then asked, “so what do say, kid? Wanna show the town how badass you are?”
Luz bounced on her toes. “Yeah I do!” Her instructor raised her hand and Luz gave her the most enthusiastic of high fives before wrapping her arms around the woman’s waist and squeezing.
“Enough of that, now,” Eda said through her smile as she pried herself out of Luz’s grip, “we’ve got to put together a setlist of techniques for you.” She turned away from her student and returned to her chair in front of the mirrors. “So you’re gonna have to put the whole handspring training on hold for a bit.”
***
“Mija, that’s so exciting!” Camila said from the driver seat.
“I know! I still can’t believe that I’ll be on the Summer Fest stage this year,” Luz said, practically vibrating with more energy than she usually left her private lessons with. Her stomach and ribs still ached, but she couldn’t stop the excitement from coursing through her bouncing legs. “Eda and I already started planning my techniques out and next week we’re gonna start training as a group for the demonstration.”
“More time at the studio?” Her mother kept her eyes pointed at the road ahead of them, her brows jumping above the plastic frames of her glasses.
Luz felt herself shrink, “is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay,” Camila looked at Luz, “I’m just going to miss having a daughter.”
Luz rolled her eyes. The rest of the drive was spent in comfortable silence until Camila pulled up to a familiar sandwich shop.
“Chimis!” Camila hadn’t even put the car in park before Luz started to undo her seatbelt.
“I figured we could celebrate.” The woman said, turning the ignition off.
Luz bolted from the car, while Camila followed her daughter at her own pace. Luz stopped just outside the door to ask her mother for a sandwich without onions then found the usual two person booth they liked to sit at. She waited for her mom by running over some of the techniques in her setlist. Her eyes focused on the metal napkin dispenser as she watched the reflection of her hands mimic the motions of techniques she and Eda had discussed earlier in the day. She assaulted the air with small practiced swipes and jabs. Had she not caught her mother’s reflection in the napkin dispenser, she’d have missed her arrival entirely.
“I really wish I knew what people thought whenever you wave your hands around like that.” Camila said, placing Luz’s sandwich in front of her.
“I’m not just ‘waving my hands around,’ Mami,” Luz glanced down at her arms, looking for where she’d left off, then started the technique over. “I’m practicing.”
Camila smiled at her daughter, “this demonstration must be pretty special. I don’t see you get this focused on all that unless there’s some sort of test coming up.”
“I’m just excited, I think.” Luz wrapped up the technique she was on, then rested her hands in her lap. She rubbed her palms against the fabric of her gi pants. “Maybe a little nervous, too.”
Camila nodded as she took the first bite of her sandwich. “Makes sense.”
“I know these are pretty routine and all, I just,” Luz’s eyes strayed to the window, landing to where their car was parked outside, “this will be my first time performing anything outside of the studio.”
“It’s just like a little show, isn’t it?”
“Yes, just a local one,” Luz pressed her palms deeper into her legs, “I don’t know. The demonstration is how I found the Clawthorne Sisters in the first place.”
“Oh yes, I remember, mija,” her mom chuckled, “you did not stop talking about it for weeks after Summer Fest that year.” Luz looked away from the car and smiled. “I thought it was going to be the cheerleading all over again. Where you get crazy interested for a little bit then move on and all that. But then,” Camila pulled a napkin from the dispenser to wipe her mouth with, “then you got ahold of one of those outfits at a garage sale—“
“It’s a gi.”
“—and learned all that stuff about how to fold it and how to store them.” Camila sighed as she closed her eyes, smiling as she did. “That’s when I knew I’d have to get you into at least one of those classes.”
Luz’s hands started picking at each other as she thought about those weeks spent scrolling through pages and pages of Wikipedia articles about Shotokan and Okinawa and Pat Morita. She smiled to herself as she recalled that first Karate class, how the first thing Eda did when she saw Luz wearing that oversized uniform was dig through her old stash to find one that fit better. “I’m glad you did.”
Her mother smiled then reminded Luz that she had an untouched chimi sandwich sitting in front of her. Luz put aside her nerves long enough to enjoy her food, her eyes straying out to the window again as she ate. Ideas for her setlist buzzed around her mind as she finished her sandwich.
Eda said that she should prioritize the moves that show off flexibility, since that was one of Luz’s strong suits. That gave Luz a rather small pool of techniques to choose from, since most of what they learned was for practical combat use rather than showing off. Her eyes searched the parking lot for ideas before they caught on a familiar crown of green hair leaving a boutique across the street. Luz shoved the last few bites of her sandwich into her mouth and sprung from her chair. “Be right back,” she said through a mouth full of beef and sauce. Her mom watched the girl strut through the parking lot, then sprint across the street.
“Hey, Blight!” Luz didn’t slow down until her sparring partner turned. Once Luz stopped, she noticed another girl with Blight that she recognized from the dojo. The girl had bright pink hair that always looked freshly dyed. Today was no exception as the afternoon sun burned through her strains, giving the girl a head of hot pink flames to accompany the fire in her glare. Blight seemed less annoyed than her companion.
“Noceda,” she said, watching Luz suck in air and rest her hands against her knees. The running had revived some soreness from the handspring practice.
“Guess—” Luz started, “—what.”
Blight glanced at the pink haired girl she, before indulging Luz, “what?”
“I’m… gonna…” Luz straightened herself and took a deep breath before setting her eyes on Blight, “I’m gonna be in the demonstration. The Summer Fest one.”
“Oh wow.” Blight said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Really?” Curiosity clung to her words. The girl next to her snorted.
“Yeah right. Like they’d let anyone lower than black on the stage.”
“They do sometimes. Eda said so,” Luz stepped towards the pink haired girl, “we already started working on a setlist and everything.”
The girl met Luz’s advance with a step of her own. Her height towered over Luz’s. “And what makes you so special, toothpick?”
“Boscha.” Blight pulled at the girl’s shoulder. Luz’s stare didn’t waver from the grey daggers in the girl’s eyes as she retreated. Blight regarded Luz with her lips pressed into a thin like and the same steady gaze she wore in the dojo. “I guess I’ll see you for practice next week, Noceda.” She said, turning away from Luz and pulling Boscha with her.
“What a waste.” She heard Boscha mutter as the two left Luz standing there outside the boutique by herself. A sting threatened the corner of her eyes before she closed them, forcing the tears to stay where they were. She was watching the girls retreating figures when her mother’s voice broke her out of her trance.
“Mija? You ready to go?” Camila was outside the restaurant, next to their car.
“I’m coming!” Luz called to her mother. Before crossing the street again, Luz spared one more look at the girls.
One of them was looking back at her.