Chapter 3

Pyrrha realized how little she really knew about Sun. Sure, they had spent plenty of time together, but mostly in the context of him hanging out with Nora. When Pyrrha mentioned it to Nora, she suggested they spend a day together. Taking Nora out of the equation would let Pyrrha get to know Sun. Pyrrha called up Sun and they agreed to meet up on Saturday. Sun taught an adult beginner parkour class on Saturday mornings, but he invited Pyrrha to attend for free. It took some convincing, from Sun and Nora, but Pyrrha agreed to give it a shot.

Pyrrha showed up dressed for a workout, wearing shorts, a tank top, and a sports bra to hold everything in place. She had been unsure of how she was supposed to dress, but was relieved for find the rest of the class similarly attired. It all started off with a safety briefing. Sun explained the best way to fall, the dos and don'ts of the obstacles set up in the gym, and what to do in various situations. Judging by the bored looks on most of the students' faces, most had heard it all before. Pyrrha was surprised and impressed by how seriously Sun took safety.

Once the safety talk was over, Sun led the group through some stretching, then it was on to the obstacles. First off were balance tests, the students running across narrow bars and cables. Pyrrha had no problems. After that were some basic jumps across various gaps. There were plenty of pads and soft floor mats to catch the students in the case of a miss, but again Pyrrha had no trouble. Going in she had not been afraid of getting hurt so much as embarrassing herself. Even though it was her first class, she seemed lightyears ahead of many of the others, and those anxieties melted away.

Pyrrha ran into her first trouble when the climbing started. Her upper body strength was a bit lacking, hardly a surprise given her usual focus on aerobics. Many of the students struggled to run up a curved wall that was about four meters tall, most failing to get their hands to the top. Pyrrha had no difficulty running up and reaching the top, but she did struggle a bit to pull herself up. Using her legs to push off the wall helped but it was still a battle. The next obstacle was no easier. It consisted of two parallel walls, just far enough apart that it was not possible to brace between them, about three meters high. The idea was to jump off one and grab the top of the other, then climb to the platform at the top.

Pyrrha jogged up to the wall, got good traction as she jumped into it, pushed off and up, launching herself toward the opposite wall. She grabbed the ledge with both hands and started to pull herself up. Her right hand slipped but she held on with her left, trying to swing her right hand back up to regain the grip. As she swung the strength in her left hand gave out and slipped off. Pyrrha went flying out the side, completely missed the protective mats and slammed down on her front on the hard concrete.

A collective gasp rose from the crowd. Sun raced to Pyrrha's side and slid onto his knees next to her. "Damn Pyrrha, are you alright?" He asked.

"My boob hurts." Pyrrha groaned.

"Your...well, that sounds like concussion talk." Sun sighed. "I'll call…"

"No, sorry, I'm fine." Pyrrha gasped, struggling to catch her breath. "Just got the wind knocked out of me."

"And your…" Sun started.

"Good thing I have some padding." Pyrrha forced a laugh.

"Alright, do you want some ice or something?" Sun asked. "Want to sit out…"

"Oh no, I'm not sitting out." Pyrrha declared. "I'm having the time of my life!"

"That's not what I'd expect from someone who just ate shit like that." Sun laughed. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

"I'm fine." Pyrrha assured him.

"If you say so." Sun shrugged. He stood and turned to the class. "Alright everybody, get back in there."


The class went on without incident. Pyrrha still struggled with her upper body strength but now knew better than to try to catch a slip. Falling to the padding below was much better than swinging wildly onto concrete. At the end of class Sun doled out praise, critique and advice. After talking to a few of the participants Sun rejoined Pyrrha who had changed into her street clothes. He proposed they head to the local Simple Wok to get lunch and Pyrrha agreed. Once there Sun ordered some spicy noodle soup and Pyrrha chose pork dumplings.

"If you feel sick, make sure you tell me, alright?" Sun said.

"Sun, I'll be fine." Pyrrha assured him. "I've dealt with worse in the past."

"Really?" Sun asked skeptically.

"I...didn't have the best of upbringings." Pyrrha said, forcing a smile.

"Fair enough." Sun said. "I won't pry."

"Thank you." Pyrrha said.

"So what's Nora up to?" Sun asked.

"Spending the day with Yang, probably annoying Winter." Pyrrha laughed.

"I think she's warmed up to her by now." Sun suggested.

"She's certainly tolerant." Pyrrha agreed. "I don't know if warmed is the right term for it though. Winter understands Nora's personality, and has adjusted her expectations accordingly."

"I think I saw her crack a smirk once." Sun said. "Even if she pretends she doesn't like it, I think she's grown on the Ice Queen."

"I hope so." Pyrrha said. "She did have a plan for if Nora, well, anyone really, got pregnant."

"Seriously?" Sun asked.

"Yeah, there's a huge market for glamor pictures of pregnancy." Pyrrha explained. "It's a beautiful thing really...have you been thinking about it?"

"Yeah, it's a big thing, huge thing." Sun replied. "It's gonna' take a bit to digest, and I'm honestly surprised Nora's the one going for it out of everyone."

"Who did you think was more likely?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yang, definitely Yang." Sun answered. "She's got a real hip mom vibe about her."

"I agree, Yang would make a great mother." Pyrrha smiled. "She already dotes on Nora when they're together."

"They're great together." Sun said. "To be honest, I half expected them to end up together."

"They do fit, but I think Yang sees Nora as a sister more than anything." Pyrrha said. "I know that's how Nora sees Yang."

"I feel like having those two in the same family would cause a lot of collateral damage." Sun laughed.

"Like the movie?" Pyrrha asked.

"No, that was Collateral Carnage." Sun corrected. "One of Nora's favorites."

"I thought her favorite was Auric Fist." Pyrrha said.

"That's her second favorite." Sun said.

"Damnit, I thought I knew these things." Pyrrha sighed.

"She changes her mind a bunch, so maybe we're both wrong." Sun shrugged. "Spruce Lee has a lot of great hits."

"A fair point." Pyrrha agreed. "Though that reminds me, I need to pick up the new special edition Nora has been asking for."

"The one with the translated commentary?" Sun asked. "I've been thinking of getting that too. I'll come with, if you want."

"I would appreciate the company." Pyrrha said. "Do you need any groceries? I might do a shopping run as well."

"I am running low on bread." Sun replied. "I was hanging out with Sage, Scarlet came over, and we had some fun fucking with him."

"Do I want to know?" Pyrrha groaned.

"Two words." Sun laughed. "Wet. Bread." Pyrrha shuddered.


After lunch the first stop was the local electronics store. Sun headed for the action movie section, knowing exactly where he might find the special edition of Auric Fist, if it was in stock. Pyrrha took a different approach, finding a salesperson to ask. Just as the salesperson was tapping away at her computer to look it up, Sun came rushing over. "Pyrrha, you have to come see this." He said with barely contained glee.

"But she's just looking…" Pyrrha protested.

"Now!" Sun exclaimed. He grabbed Pyrrha by the arm and dragged her away.

"Sorry...uh...thank you!" Pyrrha shouted back to the very confused salesperson.

"Behold." Sun said while making a sweeping gesture with his hand in the general direction of a large box.

"Spruce Lee Complete Collection: Ultimate Edition." Pyrrha read. "Wow." She gasped. "They're all in here. Collateral Carnage, the Auric Trilogy, even Gauntlet of the Huntress."

"It gets better." Sun declared. "Look at the special features."

"Translated commentary tracks, behind the scenes videos…" Pyrrha gasped. "Never before seen training videos! A two hour Spruce Lee biography! This is incredible!"

"Right?" Sun said. "If only it wasn't so expensive."

Pyrrha glanced at the price tag. 400 lien. Steep. It only took her a moment to make her decision. "I make doctor money and Nora's a millionaire." She said. "I'm getting it."

"We're going to marathon this, right?" Sun suggested.

"Definitely." Pyrrha agreed. "Let's get home and get this started."


"How is coming up with baby names so hard?" Nora complained. She sat on the couch beside Yang, the pair both ignoring the TV show playing in front of them.

"Yeah, no wonder I ended up with the female version of my father's name." Yang laughed. "If you have a girl you could name her Nora Jr. If it's a boy you could go with Norman."

"Nah, that's kind of lame." Nora sighed. "What about Ren?"

"Isn't that a little on the nose?" Yang warned.

"Yeah, it would be a little weird to name my kid after my dead husband." Nora shrugged.

"Wow." Yang gasped.

"And if it was a girl it wouldn't fit at all." Nora added.

"Maybe something with Sun since he's the father?" Yang suggested.

"Hmm...maybe." Nora shrugged. "It'll probably end up depending on what they look like, you know, hair, eye and skin color. Color is beautiful, and I want my kid to be as beautiful as can be."

"Doesn't Pyrrha's name mean red?" Yang asked. Nora nodded. "Pyrrhus is the male version right?"

"Somehow I don't think Sun and I would make a baby with red hair." Nora laughed. "Maybe pink or orange."

"Pinky doesn't exactly have the best ring to it." Yang laughed. "And orange...it doesn't even rhyme with anything. Hmm...flowers...or seasons?" Yang shrugged.

"Ren did love his garden...I love his garden." Nora said. "It's full of...lilies."

"Lilly isn't a terrible name." Yang said. "It's actually kind of cute. If you have a boy you'll be out of luck…"

"Just don't name them after birds." Raven suggested, walking over and plopping down on the couch between them. "Birds tend to fly away."

"Subtle." Yang said. "When did you get here?"

"Pinky is terrible." Raven laughed. "Having the TV blaring made it a little hard to hear you two, but it made sneaking up pretty easy."

"Planning to scare us?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, but I just didn't have the heart." Raven admitted. "Coming up with a name for your child is a serious thing. You don't want to stick them with something that'll ruin their life. Pinky for instance."

"We get it, no on Pinky." Yang rolled her eyes.

"I wanted to name you Ember." Raven said.

"That's a pretty name." Nora said. "Hmm…"

"I'm pretty happy with Yang." Yang said. "It's easy to rhyme."

"Exactly why I didn't want to name you that." Raven laughed. "I figured it would make you easier to pick on."

"A few strategic face-punches took care of that." Yang smirked.

"I guess you do take after me a little." Raven said.

"So Rave, what brings you here?" Nora asked.

"I just thought I'd stop by to spend some quality time with my daughter." Raven replied. Yang and Nora looked at her skeptically. "And we're running low on scotch. I was hoping to borrow a bottle. Glynda won't buy me booze anymore."

"Probably because you have a drinking problem." Yang joked.

"It runs in the family." Raven shrugged.

"Don't you have a job?" Nora asked. "You can buy it yourself."

"Yeah, but the good stuff is expensive." Raven complained. "It's much cheaper to have Winter pay for it."

"Speaking of you and Winter…" Yang started.

"I know, I'm sorry." Raven quickly cut in. "I was really drunk and...and...well you made out with Glynda too!"

"Glynda made out with me." Yang countered. "And it only lasted like five seconds. You were making out with my girlfriend for a good ten minutes before we pried you apart."

"She seemed pretty into it." Raven joked.

"She thought you were me!" Yang shouted.

"I'm flattered." Raven smirked.

"She has thick beer goggles." Yang grumbled.

"Ouch." Raven said. "Anyway, it's good that you're here too Nora. I've been meaning to talk to you."

"Really?" Nora asked. "What about?"

"About what you're planning to do with Sun." Raven replied. "Have you thought this through? Polyamory...it's like playing with fire. You can do some really awesome stuff...but you might just get burned."

"I have thought it through." Nora declared. "I've thought about it a lot. We're not rushing into this, and I'm not going to pressure Sun or Pyrrha. And even if we go through with this, I'm not sure things will end up that way."

"I just...I don't want you to repeat my mistakes." Raven sighed. "Even without the polyamory aspect...having a kid...it's a big deal. It can be...terrifying, and painful. You might end up having a tougher time connecting with your child than you expect, and then...you might end up hating yourself like I did."

"Rave…" Nora sighed, laying a hand on Raven's shoulder.

"Just...whatever happens...don't run away." Raven insisted with tears in her eyes. "It's the worst thing you can do. If you have a problem, talk about it, don't hide it like I did. Otherwise you'll just end up making things worse." She turned to Yang. "I'm so sorry for what I did…"

"I know mom." Yang said. She leaned over and hugged Raven. Yang rarely called her mom. They had grown closer, but more like sisters than mother and daughter. "I've forgiven you."

"I just...Nora, promise me you won't run away." Raven implored.

"I promise." Nora declared. She leaned in and hugged Raven as well.


Sun and Pyrrha sat on the couch, Pyrrha holding the box set on her lap to open it up. She slid her nail across the plastic to break the seal, then lifted the lid. "What's this?" She asked, pulling a large sheet of paper from inside. She unfolded it to reveal a large poster of a shirtless Spruce Lee.

"Oh sweet!" Sun cheered. "You know, I had a poster sort of like that when I was a kid. It was him in basically the same pose, shiny with sweat, like he just got done fighting. It was older looking and had that weird image quality you saw back then where he looked kinda' plastic, and it was from a magazine, so it wasn't that big, but damn I loved it."

"You with a poster of a sweaty dude on your wall?" Pyrrha laughed. "Bet that made your parents nervous."

"They wouldn't have cared if I was gay." Sun shrugged. "They were really laid back about that sort of thing...well...about everything really. I didn't care anyway. Spruce Lee was my hero. I mean, have you seen the abs on that guy?"

"Yes...yes I have…" Pyrrha said, licking her lips.

"I wanted to be just like him." Sun continued. "I tried taking kung fu classes but I kept cracking wise...you know, like he does in some of his movies...and they kicked me out. Then I just started working out. I figured I could at least look like him, even if I couldn't fight like him. I had the poster on my wall, and I told myself one day, one day I'd look like that and take a picture recreating it."

"Have you?" Pyrrha asked.

Sun thought for a moment. "Fuck!" He shouted. "Well, we've got phones. How about we do it now?"

"Are you kidding?" Pyrrha laughed. "We work for a modeling company. We're getting this professionally done."

"Oh, this is gonna' be awesome!" Sun cheered.

"But until then, how about we watch some movies?" Pyrrha suggested.

"Hell yeah." Sun agreed.

Pyrrha made some popcorn and grabbed a pair of beverages, and the movie marathon began. First up was the Auric Trilogy, Spruce Lee's most famous works. The set came with a choice of audio track, subbed or dubbed, but they watched them dubbed because that was the classic experience for them. "I never really liked Auric Vengeance." Pyrrha complained after the trilogy was done. "It just seems kind of pointless, like a repeat of the first two."

"Yeah, but it's got some sweet stunts though." Sun said. "Nothing like Auric Fury but that had the biggest budget."

"Auric Fist is still the best by far." Pyrrha said. "They never really captured the magic of the first one."

"Yeah, but they're all great." Sun argued. "Fury and Vengeance are only lame when you compare them to Fist. As standalone films they're awesome."

"I suppose you're right." Pyrrha shrugged. "So, what should we watch next?"

"How about Gauntlet of the Huntress?" Sun asked.

"Ooh, I love that one." Pyrrha said. "Some people say Spruce didn't have a big enough part, and that they were ramming Ember Celica down everyone's throats to attract female viewers, but I still think it's one of his best."

"Plus Ember's hot." Sun added. "I actually got to meet her once."

"Really?" Pyrrha gasped. "Is she as cool in real life as she is in the movie?"

"Yeah, kind of." Sun shrugged. "It was at this convention a few years ago. Most people there had no idea who she was but she got really excited when she realized how big a fan I was. We started quoting the movie, entire scenes even, and she was really into it. It's a shame her career kind of just died out...and that she's not 20 years younger...and that she's married."

"She was one of my heroes when I was a kid." Pyrrha sighed. "I always wished I could be that cool…"

The front door swung open and Nora stepped in. "Hey Pyrrha, I'm home!" She cheered. "Maybe we could take a shower...oh, Sun, you're here."

"Hey Nora." Sun said.

"Hello." Pyrrha said. "We were just watching some movies together."

"Yeah, we picked up this awesome Spruce Lee box set!" Sun exclaimed, pointing to the box. "We just finished the Auric Trilogy and we were about to watch Gauntlet of the Huntress."

"You...you watched Auric Fist without me?" Nora asked as her lip quivered and tears welled in her eyes.

"Sorry, we were just so excited." Pyrrha apologized. "We can watch it again if you want."

"Oh...well...it just wouldn't be the same…" Nora sighed.

"It's got deleted scenes…" Sun said.

"Really?!" Nora gasped. "Awesome! Let's watch!" She raced over to the couch, sitting between Sun and Pyrrha.

The trio watched the Auric Trilogy again, then Collateral Carnage and Gauntlet of the Huntress. Nora fell asleep shortly after the start of the final film. One second she was cheering, miming the moves, the next she was snoring, lying with her head on Pyrrha's lap and her feet on Sun's legs. When the movie was over Pyrrha turned the TV off with the remote. "I should probably take her to bed." Pyrrha whispered.

"Hey, uh...do you mind if I spend the night?" Sun asked. "It's pretty late already. I can just crash on the couch."

"Sure, and you can have the guest room if you want." Pyrrha offered. "By the way, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"No, nothing planned at least." Sun replied.

"Why not spend the day with us?" Pyrrha suggested. "We've got a lot of movies to go."

"That sounds awesome." Sun agreed. "I'm down."

"Great." Pyrrha said. She slipped herself out from under Nora, then stood and grabbed her under the arms. "Up we go." She lifted Nora over her shoulder and carried her toward the bedroom.

"I will have my vengeance!" Nora mumbled, no doubt in the midst of kung fu dreams.