- - -6- - -

December

VAV

Midsomer, England

V

Even when he was simply walking in, Fox could already tell that this wasn't his Stardust. The smell of coffee was still the same, yet instead of the once conversation in the corner that always stuck around and a handful of silent readers, the small coffeeshop was filled with the sound of typing to the point Fix swore he could map the entire room by sound alone. He barely needed Mouse's help to reach the register given the almost sonar effect caused by the floors, glass walls, and at least ten laptops all spread around. "Hi, vente mocha, extra syrup; and can you tell me if there's a girl here? Brunette with a bob-cut, and I'm told there's a beret as well."

He was expecting the kind of usual, bored retail employee. Trying so hard to sound positive and failing nonetheless. Not that he blamed them in the slightest. The response he got was slightly… different. "Oh my gosh! You're the guy; the mugger guy! I can't believe she didn't tell me she asked you out finally."

He managed to suppress the wince that came with that unfortunate description, hoping as he did so that none of the other customers thought he was actually a mugger. "Sorry, should I know you?"

"Ah, my bad. I'm Velvet, Coco's roommate. I tried to introduce myself a couple times when you two were online, but she always guarded her screen time."

"Right… It's just, she always said her roommate was the shy, timid sort."

"Yep, that's me. It's just so out of character for her, usually she tells me everything, but your different. She didn't even tell me you were coming today. Anyways, she's over in the corner cause she didn't listen when I told her to do the homework earlier. I'll walk over with you just as soon as I'm done with this. Cream?"

"Yes, please."

"No problem. Here, follow me." Velvet came out from behind the counter, and Mouse seemed happy enough to follow her lead the short distance towards one of the quieter booths. "Coco, you'll never guess who I just met."

There was a delay, then a quiet, almost horrified, "…oh shit" as the table was filled with the flurry of fluttering papers being thrown out of the way. Fox couldn't help but smile at his flustered date as she took another second to tug on fabric before responding. "Hi, sorry for that. Just catching up on some work."

"So I hear. It's fine. I know this is a busy time for you student types."

"Alright, well I'll leave to two to do you. Fox, do you want me to look after, Mouse was it?" Velvet asked.

"She'd only get in your way. We're fine, thanks."

"Not a problem. Coco will pay me back later, since apparently she owes me a story." Velvet walked back to the counter after that, giving Fox the distinct impression she was enjoying holding this embarrassment over her roommate.

He waited until her footsteps were safely back on the mats behind the counter before letting his blind eyes settle back towards his reason for this visit. "You can tell her it's my fault you didn't tell her. It's somewhat true."

Coco had lost her sense of surprise at this point, and Fox was sure she had settled herself down into a pose that was undoubtably both sexy and lost on him. Shame. "No luck. I've known her since we were bairns1. She wouldn't believe me even if I agreed with you. So, first date then, what do you want to talk about?"

VAV

Semblance of Qi

V

Just because he denied it to Arslan, along with her enlisted allies of MuMuHammer and Greave's friend JadeUndercurrent, even Fox wasn't completely oblivious to Coco. Furthermore he was far from against the idea himself, it was more like he had boxed himself in at this point. Coco had backed own to the point that it was hardly subtle, just restrained to the point he would have to actually step up if he wanted it to go anywhere. At least one lazy part of himself was quick to point out that he could have just let Coco drag him into a date if he hadn't been a jerk about it earlier in their friendship. Instead he now had to buck up and ask her out. One, minor problem with that had left him to seek help, which was even worse of an idea than he first expected.

LionOfTheRedDawn: How have you never asked a girl out?

FoxGrip: I'm blind. It doesn't come up often.

LionOfTheRedDawn: I'm a lesbian, in Turkey. Do you want to know the statistics I'm working against? And I'm younger than you.

LionOfTheRedDawn: Seriously man, this is when your whole loner-vibe really kills you.

FoxGrip: I should counter, the only girl you told me about was at the monastery with you. Tibet, not Turkey, not sure if that helps my argument or not statistics wise.

FoxGrip: But the question remains, what should I do?

LionOfTheRedDawn: Well, wait till she calls you, like she does often enough anyways…

FoxGrip: Ok.

LionOfTheRedDawn: Then ask her out. You guys already have agreed you find each other attractive, so that's one headache over. And you chat regularly, so the only real difference is doing it face-to-face and making things a bit more, y'know, romantic.

FoxGrip: You're no help.

LionOfTheRedDawn: And you're a thickheaded, die-hard introvert.

MuMuHammer: You're overthinking this. You ask, She says yes, and everything's awesome!

FoxGrip: Well how did Ren ask you out?

MuMuHammer: He didn't. We picked up dinner a couple years back, just as friends after work, not together-together, and the waiter said it was a date. I didn't have a chance to correct the guy, so we just left it at that. I joked on our way home when our next date would be, and Ren said he was busy, but next week would work.

FoxGrip: …I don't think that will work for me.

MuMuHammer: Stop thinking. At some point an opportunity is going to come up, and you can just ask then.

FoxGrip: It's not that simple.

LionOfTheRedDawn: Goddammit Fox

Chanel'sGAU8 is trying to enter chat

FoxGrip: I hate you all.

LionOfTheRedDawn: Fuck off, asshole

Chanel'sGAU8: Ok, real quick question for you guys on something called Nguni2.

FoxGrip: Coco, before you can read the thread, want to get coffee sometime?

Chanel'sGAU8: Sure.

Chanel'sGAU8: Arslan, MuMu, thanks for not letting him delete the chat history.

VAV

Midsomer, England

V

"I don't know. I thought it was obvious by now, this is not my area of expertise."

"You did ask me out…"

"Yes, because I like you. But normally our conversations focus around you asking questions for the project, or telling me stories. Which is fun, just makes it harder for me to work off the cuff here."

"Well, why don't you ask me something."

Fox took a sip from his mocha, buying time to mull over that suggestion. He could always joke about playing Truth and Dare, only Coco seemed like she would enjoy that and he would end up with the short stick. She wasn't the kind to keep secrets or feel shame over any of his dare ideas. Didn't matter though, because what he wanted was to give her the frank truth she deserved anyways. "I wouldn't know what else to ask. You've already showed me how dedicated you are to your work, and don't seem to hesitate to take on more. You know better than most students how to ask professional, but you also seem to drop back into more of a relaxed but dominant role whenever possible. You also seem to like having more introverted friends, so I can guess that you tend to maintain that dominance. Velvet's clearly an old friend, but she seemed genuinely surprised by your fluster when I walked over. Must happen rarely then. Doubt you're looking forward to having bosses in that respect. Thankfully, you seem like a natural leader, so I can also guess you have your own plans to jump rank quick enough."

"I can't tell if you're pulling a Sherlock deduction on me or a palm reading."

"Hopefully a Sherlock since I've never held your palms. Calls are limited like that."

"Well, I can change that easily enough." His own hand; scarred, calloused, and wrapped comfortably around his drink; was peeled away by something different. Her hand running gently across his entire arm before settling down and clasping them together, letting him feel every pore of her smooth skin. And it was smooth, clearly treated by some cream that tickled his nose alongside her shampoo's rich smell, to go with fingernails that were iron strong, and kept carefully trimmed and smooth. Doubtlessly for the sake of her mechanical work, just, unlike him, the blemishes of her work never seemed to show on her body. Were it not for the softness of her body, he would compare it to marble instead. "So, what's your question then?"

"Dogs or Cats."

"If I had to choose, I can think of a couple of cute canines in this booth pushing the argument in their favor. Are you sure that's your first question though?"

"To be fair, Mouse would honestly be one of my few deal-breakers. I like you, in case that's not obvious, but she's family and kind of necessary. Do you have a better one?"

"Maybe what's your family like?"

"Only child, so it was just my parents and me growing up. I have extended family, but most are over in Kenya, except for my mom's sister who lives on the coast. My dad immigrated here shortly after college to work for a tidal energy company, and met my mom then. Mouse joined us 2 years ago, and Bibi, my grandmother, moved in with them back in August. You?"

"Also an only child, so that's something in common. Both parents work for this big hotel chain, and we moved around a lot growing up, but four years back I convinced them to let me stay at just one school so I could focus on my studies. That's when I finally started living in Midsomer and visiting my parents over breaks, mostly in France."

"That would explain the slight accent."

"Yep. Velvet's family basically adopted me after they found out, but they're about as extended as it gets for me."

"To be fair, we don't really stay in touch with my extended family."

"So I only have to worry about your parents and sister here for approval, good to know."

Fox took a second to notice his lap was curiously empty, a pause that was filled by shifting on the bench next to Coco and soon the gentle thwaps of Mouse's tail happily against his leg. "To be fair, I think she would marry anyone who pets and feeds her."

"Oh, what about you?"

"Pretty sure that's skipping a few steps."

"Maybe, but you've been a hard person to read in all this. So, what's your poison?"

"Whiskey and Coke, unless it's cold out in which case I usually have Irish coffee. Not really a beer person, usually end up with some sort of mixed non-fruity drink in the end."

His grin didn't falter as the boot kicked him under the table. Not going to lie, he enjoyed the few times he could actually beat Coco in word play. Sure he was apparently a master of the stoic defense, but every now and then he actually managed to turn the tables on her and it was hilarious. "Asshole."

"It was a legitimate answer."

"Don't make me kick you again."

"Honestly, it comes up rarely enough that I couldn't say. All I know is my personal rules for who I date."

"Which are…"

"I trust them, and I'm attracted in some way."

Coco sighed loud enough to wake the dead, though at least this time wasn't his fault. "You're not giving me much to work with here."

"Think about it this way. Odds are against you dating your true love first and only, that's just numbers right there. But at the end of the day, you need to trust someone and ideally your partner should be one of those people. Otherwise you're dating for money or status, neither of which I care about. I'd hope that's pretty obvious given my current job. And frankly, I don't plan to spend my life alone, so I have to be attracted in some manner. I just also want to recognize that the kinds of attraction vary. No offense, but I have no idea how attractive you are in any sort of physical sense. I know Arslan thinks you're hot, which is great and all, but I couldn't tell you what she finds attractive either. So I just have to work with what I do know, which is that I am definitely attracted to your voice. Add that with a trust based on my previous character analysis, and I feel justified in having asked you out."

"…Wow. You really know how to woo a lady."

"To be fair, I also have no idea why you agreed to this. I know with dating I'm supposed to be polite, but frankly I know I'm an asshole. Everyone knows I'm an asshole, and I'm told that usually it's a bad idea to tell people about how much you fight."

"And yet you never started any of them as far as the stories go."

Fox sat back on the bench, sinking into it with arms crossed and puzzled expression. "Huh?"

"All the stories you gave, I don't know of one where you actually started the fight, except for the one time with an assault rifle. So violent, yes, but that still says some other stuff about. Unlucky, probably being the biggest characteristic I can see."

"No argument there."

"And for all your aggressive talk, rough looks, and apparent inability to stop brooding all the time; your one big deal-breaker for dating was about Mouse. No mentions of what's my hair's like, how much I weigh, the fact that I'm part French; no your more concerned about how I'll treat your best friend. Which is more the kind of friend I want around me. Sure, even as your friend I worry a little about you getting hurt doing something dumb…"

"Me? Never." Fox's voice taking on a dry tone at the long list of stories Coco already knew to expect from previous chats.

"…But not about you hurting me. Or my friends for that matter, which honestly is what I'd be more concerned over. Hell if anything, I think dating you would get me a free bodyguard in the process. Also, in case I haven't mentioned this, unlike you I know exactly what I find attractive. Your voice is ok, but you definitely have other… interesting features."

"What do you mean?"

"You got buns, hun."

"Huh?"

"Finally got to use that line, and the guy doesn't know pop cultures. I find you easy on eyes, and progressively easier with less clothes."

"Ah."

"I'm saying you're hot."

"No, I think I got it now."

"You sure, I can keep going?"

Fox stretched out his legs, accidentally brushing Coco's in the process. And for once he didn't feel a need to apologize, instead grinning as he felt her eager tension. "Fine, one more."

"I thought your fashion sucks, but we can fix it easy enough. Just throw everything on the floor of my room and don't bother picking it up."

He couldn't stop grinning at her, admitting that he was more than comfortable with the woman's endless flirting, and debating whether or not to run with that thought when another two cents were thrown in to the mix. "Only if you pick everything up later. I'm not cleaning up you two's mess." Velvet said from her position behind the counter.

His grin turned into a laugh, and with it came Coco's clenched legs as she shifted in her seats. Probably sending a look towards their resident voyeur before turning back to him. "Sorry, she has… good hearing."

"I can appreciate that."

"Course you can Daredevil."

Sigh, "Why is it always Daredevil?"

"Because now I'm imagining you in leather pants."

"Oh, well, as long as there's a sensible reason, that's fine."

VAV

Semblance of Qi

V

MuMuHammer: So… how'd it go?

Chanel'sGAU8: Where's Fox?

LionOfTheRedDawn: He left a message for me that he'd be covering a night class for one of the other instructors tonight. Usually that means he doesn't have time for chatting, so you're in the clear for gossip

Chanel'sGAU8: Still can't believe he's a teacher of any sort.

Chanel'sGAU8: It went well. Definitely had good chemistry, and honestly I think he relaxed more in person.

LionOfTheRedDawn: Yeah, he told me that he prefers face to face.

Chanel'sGAU8: So he can pick up more senses?

LionOfTheRedDawn: I'm sure that's part of it, but he told me it had more to do with allowing him to punch the other person.

MuMuHammer: I can see why you two would get along then.

Chanel'sGAU8: I don't punch people.

MuMuHammer: Sure, but you're definitely more forceful than the average joe.

Changel'sGAU8: That would imply I'm in anyway average.

LionOfTheRedDawn: or humble.

Changel'sGAU8: That's rich coming from Ms. Car-puncher.

LionOfTheRedDawn: I just find it funny how much trouble the adults here have with something as simple as this, that's all.

Greaves: Yo. What's tonight's debate?

MuMuHammer: Coco and Fox went on a date.

Greaves: So they banged?

LionOfTheRedDawn: Now that's a good question…

Chanel'sGAU8: I hate you all.

MuMuHammer: It's like you 2 were made for each other.

VAV

Signal Academy, US

V

Click click click click.

The clock behind her bed had been counting the seconds for her ever since she had come home. One at a time without a single pause. The minute hand and hour hand were both quieter, to quiet for her to hear in the silent room. And as long as she remained alone, the clicks of the clock remained the only thing to mark the passage of time inside. Click went eternity, click went a millisecond; Yang couldn't tell the difference.

It wasn't her arm that she missed. Or her professional career that had just left alongside her right hook. She could handle that. But it was much harder for her to think of Blake, missing as far as everyone knew and if she had to guess was back in Mexico. Weiss had been dragged away back home to the North, and Rubes… she told everyone she was back at school. But Yang wasn't an idiot, the only proof anyone had of that fact was all online records. So really, Ruby could be anywhere in the world and no one would know.

Pulling herself away from the window, she felt the force of deadweight that held her down and managed little more than to pull out her phone. Filled with missed calls, unread texts and messages, and games she no longer found fun, Yang eventually found herself in her inbox pretending to clean it out. Filled with emails from friends and fans alike, she couldn't bring herself to read them for the same reason she had stayed in this bed as if she had lost a leg instead of an arm: sheer apathy. Even now she couldn't bring herself to respond to anyone, and did her best to just delete the usual spam and ignore the several hundred others that were actually awaiting responses. One email idly caught her interest, tucked in amongst the well-wishes and general spam.

[From: Admin

To: YangtheDragon

Subject: Welcome to our Forum!

Welcome! Thank you for applying to join our forum. Having reviewed your application, and received sponsorship confirmation from: *GoldenTraveller*, we are happy to have you join us. Below you will find your username and a temporary password that you will be asked to change after longing on. Please remember that this is a diverse and international forum, and we expect each member to conduct themselves civilly.

Username: SunnyLittleKoi

Password: aRb2x7iBz

We look forward to chatting with you.

Yours,

The Semblance of Qi staff

. ]

Okay. So last time she went drinking she must have signed up for some online community. Weird, since that would have been after her last fight back in October, and usually her parties involved more topless dancing and make-out sessions. Actually the only weird part was that she apparently had both time between her usual antics and the dexterity to type.

So what had drunk Yang found so enrapturing she wondered. Clicking on the link, she found the kind of boring forum she could find on any of a hundred websites. The fact that it listed six out of 11 members signed on after she entered it didn't exactly bode well either if it was that small. Then her eyes panned down to the Archived chats and things started to get a little more interesting.

A protein shake cook-off, fists vs palm strikes for street fights, best training shoes for indoors and outdoors, all topping the list of long line of conversations that seemed to be covering anything and everything related to fighting or martial arts. There were a couple of weirder titles; how can Greaves alter balance points, floor vibrations aren't reliable in real life, and what the fuck is IceCreamQueen's power; but they probably had a much simpler explanation anyway. Greaves probably meant shin guards and the weight difference when practicing kicks, and it was clear this group did talk about stuff outside fighting, IceCreamQueen must play some video game or something. Everything put together, it looked like some sort of martial arts forum. Cool; not sure why drunk Yang applied to join instead of just drinking more, but better to stumble on this than her usual escapades.

Course, that was before she opens up the current chat.

[Greaves: So they banged?]

{LionOfTheRedDawn: Now that's a good question…]

[Chanel'sGAU8: I hate you all.]

[MuMuHammer: It's like you 2 were made for each other.]

Okay, so it's a martial arts forum that also chats about romance. Any of her own notions that group would just be talking about workouts or whatever was very quickly pushed aside by the realization that they were in fact real people. Somewhat less mystique that way, but they sounded more… normal. She could use normal.

[Ren: Hello.]

[Ren: I didn't know we had a new member.]

Shit. This Ren guy had started a private chat, which did nothing to make Yang feel any better about visiting… whatever this was. [I got invited by the administrator.]

[Ren: That's either my flatmate or me. I was just checking in since he usually asks me first.]

[I don't know what to tell you man. I got the email, I logged on.]

[That's fine, and regardless, welcome. Do you have any questions? I'd be happy to answer.]

[Well…] Yang debated, the single typed word waiting alone on the screen for her. She really didn't know what was going on here, and her… apathy, of late would really prefer to just take in the scenery outside. But then she thought of the emails still waiting for. [I'm not really sure what this is. I'm pretty sure that I did the application drunk, and I haven't really seen an about's page to remind sober me.]

[Ren: That's actually a hard question to answer. Mostly we're just just a group of friends who hangout online. It started outs a martial arts forum, but not all of us train. My girlfriend for one, though she is a Physical Education teacher. And more specifically we focus on martial arts for the disabled. In the interest of full-disclosure, I'm deaf and several other members have similar difficulties. FoxGrip specifically asked me to tell new members that he prefers calls since he's blind. He can text, but it is a slower process than he likes.]

[Seems simple enough.]

[Ren: We try.]

Yang was ready to close the private chat as soon as they said their goodbyes; maybe read some of the archived chats, maybe just log off; when Ren aded one more thing. [Ren: I don't mean to pry, but even drunk you can only find us with a rather specific search. It would be hard to just stumble in. So, if you feel comfortable, feel free to tell us about it. Between the members, we've seen enough to believe some pretty impossible things.]

[Sure.] Yang typed, agonizingly slow with just her left hand.

VAV

"English"

1: Bairns: a British term for young child.

2: Nguni: an African martial arts, local to Southern Africa (however similar styles can be found throughout the continent), traditionally practiced with two long sticks. One held to represent a sword, and the other held in the middle with a padded hand to represent a traditional shield. Nelson Mandela practiced it as a child. This is included in large part because I apologize for not incorporating more martial arts outside of Asia and Europe. An issue I can't get around mostly because I don't know half as much about them. (There's a recursive issue here, less is known about African, South American, 'obscure' or 'foreign' marital arts, so less is written, so less can be known to write about. Sorry I can't break the trend.)

VAV

I suck at date scenes. Seriously. And yet, every single one of my major fanfics have a date chapter included in the outlining phase, which would be disturbing if I didn't already know I'm insane. I also am poor at complimenting people or flirting for that matter, which makes Coco even harder to write for.

But the absolute strangest thing about writing this entire chapter, was that Yang was never outlined as a POV character. Yeah. If this story ends up a chapter longer, I'm blaming it on her. Even if it is better since I actually have a first person perspective of her character arc than just 3rd person forum stuff that wasn't working properly anyways.

And contrary to what it looks, the plot is advancing in chapter 6, mostly in terms of character development but it's definitely there.