Lilith brought Luz to the gym and gave her a key to a locker.
"Here you go, change and meet me on the mat." Lilith said.
Lilith walked to the door that leads to the main gym, noticing Luz's back as she removed her shirt.
'Her... her back... there's so many scars."
Lilith stared with wide eyes at the sight of Luz's back, scars of various shapes and sizes were all over her torso. Some dark and some light, it made Lilith wonder just what kind of antics Luz got involved in her old town.
'I shouldn't probe but this is concerning.' Lilith thought to herself.
Lilith being no stranger to certain scars, having had a few incidents in her lab, could easily tell the difference between fire burns and acid burns, both of which were on Luz. Her lower back had acid burns on it, while her upper back, near her right shoulder, had what looked to be third degree burns. Lilith walked out of the room and rubbed her head.
"What the hell happened to her?" Lilith said to herself, "I have small acid burns and first degree burns from being in the lab, but that takes it to a new level. Not to mention the other's, it looked like she's been shot and had knives attack her."
'Does Camilia know about this? If she does, why hasn't she said something to Luz?' Lilith thought.
"Alright, we going to do this or what?" Luz asked.
Lilith looked up and saw Luz. Luz was wearing a red t-shirt and black sweatpants, her beanie was in the locker so Lilith could see her uncombed hair.
"Of course." Lilith said.
Luz noticed Lilith's body language, she was nervous.
'I think someone knows something they shouldn't.' Luz thought.
The two got onto a mat and looked at each other.
"Are you ready?" Lilith asked.
"I'll give you a free shot." Luz said.
Luz assumed a boxing stance with no guard, her eyes fierce as she waited for Lilith to make the first move.
'So, she does have combat experience, now I can assume where she got some of those scars.' Lilith thought as she moved her arms forward, her hands open and flat.
Wing Chun, a martial art that Lilith was a decent practitioner of. Specializing in swift movements and strong legs while in a relaxed manner was the key fundamental of it. Lilith hit Luz's chest with a palm strike. To Lilith surprise, Luz didn't even move, instead, she smiled. In her head, Luz went through all the fighting styles she knew before picking her favorite, Krav Maga. Of course, she was going to go easy on Lilith, seeing as she may become her new mother. Luz waited for Lilith to go for another strike, which she did quickly, switching from mother figure to fighter. Lilith went for another strike, which Luz caught and preformed a Hip Throw, sending Lilith to the ground with complete ease.
"I thought this would be a challenge." Luz said.
Lilith surprised Luz by doing a Kip Up and charging at Luz, getting her leg ready to deliver a kick. Luz decided to block this time and found herself moving back a bit, surprised by the amount of leg strength Lilith had.
"You want a challenge? I shall give you one." Lilith said with a smirk.
Luz smiled.
"Good."
The Luz went for a strong punch, which Lilith blocked and retaliated by her giving Luz her own hip toss. Luz did her own Kip Up and looked at Lilith. Luz noticed the look in Lilith's eye, she was trying to figure out what kind of technique Luz is using. Luz has dealt with people that have tried that, so she did what she would always do, change her fighting technique every minute or so, keep them guessing. She knew several so it was a pretty useful strategy. Luz decided to change from Krav Maga to Jiu-Jitsu. Luz rushed to Lilith in a low tackle but that was a fake as Luz threw an uppercut, which Lilith blocked but was pushed back.
'She changed styles!' Lilith thought as stumbled to stay on her feet, 'How many fighting styles does she know? It looks like she's using Jiu-Jitsu.'
Lilith went into a defensive stance, which caused Luz to go from striking to using grapples. She managed to grab Lilith's hand and twist it, causing Lilith to roll on the ground to escape, where Luz was waiting for her. Luz used her leg to trap Lilith on the ground, while still holding her arm. Luz wrapped her legs around Lilith and attempted to put Lilith into a Kimura Lock.
'Nice try!' Lilith thought as she was more flexible than Luz predicted, moving out of the submission hold and kicked Luz across the mat.
"I have experience in dealing with a submissive position." Lilith said as she stood up.
"I don't even want to know what you mean by that." Luz said as she got up too. "Still, you're better than I thought. I may actually have to get serious."
Luz decided to switch to a specialty of hers... Kickboxing.
"Bring it on." Luz said.
Lilith smirked.
"I shall."
The two ran at each other again, Lilith going on the offensive this time as she delivered several strong palm strikes to Luz. Luz blocked the palm strikes before ducking, jabbing at Lilith as she blocked with her elbow. Luz rushed to her and began throwing several jabs as Lilith blocked and deflected her punches.
'Try this!' Luz thought as she began kicking at Lilith's legs, forcing her to block with knees and counter kicks before Luz landed a punch on her stomach to push her back.
"Ugh." Lilith grunted but stood strong.
'She's on the ropes.' Luz thought.
Luz decided to do what she does when she's out at night as the Vigilante, combine several of her styles into one. Luz ran at her and delivered a strong punch to the stomach. She followed it up with a powerful knee to nose. Lilith stumbled with her movement, which allowed Luz to deliver three strong punched to the stomach, a high kick to the head, and then rebounded with an equally powerful powerful elbow to the other side of her head. Lilith was taken to a knee, where Luz performed a spinning heel kick to Lilith head, sending her to the ground. Lilith groaned and Luz straddled her and held her arms to the ground.
"Do you give?" Luz asked.
Lilith saw no way out, not without using magic and revealing the secret to Luz before she was ready. At least that's what Camilia told her.
"I give." Lilith said with a groan.
"Good." Luz said.
Luz got up and reached out a hand for Lilith to grab. Lilith grabbed her hand and Luz pulled to get up.
"I must say, you have a very interesting fighting style. It seems very adaptive." Lilith said to her.
"Thank you, it's very useful to know several different fighting styles in order to switch up and combine." Luz said.
"Luz, I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how to approach it, why do you have so many scars?"
Luz got stiff at that, she's usually so careful when it comes to hiding her scars.
"It's nothing."
"That isn't nothing." Lilith said, "I'm was a scientist, I've had injuries from lab accidents. Your scars are not accidents, they were done deliberately. Listen, I know I'm not your parent, but I want to be a parental figure in your life. I just don't want you to get hurt."
Luz could feel her concern but pushed it away as she shook her head.
"I get it, but trust me, Lily. The less you know, the better." Luz said as she moved towards the weights of the home gym.
Lilith sighed.
"Alright, if you're sure."
Though she was tempted to use magic to get Luz to open up to her, Lilith wanted to respect Luz's secrets.
'When she's ready, she will tell me.' Lilith thought as she followed Luz to the weights.
She noticed Luz putting a lot on the bar.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? That's a lot of weight." Lilith said.
"I know. You've seen how strong I am, so I can handle it." Luz said, making Lilith remember how Luz lifted her trunk with one arm or unpacking the moving trunk nearly by herself.
"True, but I can't help but worry for you." Lilith said.
"I'm fine, mom." Luz said, the word slipping out.
Luz flinched as she heard Lilith gasp, turning to see her with a dropped jaw that slowly grew into a smile.
"Wait, I didn'-"
"It's fine. I know it was a slip but it makes me happy to see you're warming up to me as family. You can call me that when you ready." Lilith said with a nod.
"Oh, isn't this cute. Didn't know your girlfriend had a daughter as well."
Lilith turned around.
"Edalyn, to what do I owe the... displeasure?"
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