A wise woman once said: Fractions are the work of the devil. Dinah would have to agree. The problem is, that it doesn't stop her having to tackle this math homework by tomorrow
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Charlie is once again doing his morning exercises. Today it's a strange mix of taekwondo and savate, heavy on kicks, with pauses to cool down and meditate. Richard Dragon, Charlie would note, teaches some very unexpected things. He sees the teenager out the back of his eyes but is pretty much leaving her alone. He also doesn't notice the weather, except in that he hasn't seen rain in a long while.
Dinah obviously doesn't recognise any style belonging to any particular sensei, but she does look up and notice someone practicing martial arts in the training area.
And the more he practices, the less she's interested in her studies. Tae Kwon Do she recognises, Savate not so much.
Eventually she's standing and watching, her books clutched to her chest.
He realizes that once again he has an audience. He doesn't mind.
Charlie also could swear that her face is familiar. Which means he will have to ask why that should be so, but not till he's done. A few more minutes should do.
One of the quirks of their shared universe, apparently, is that women with dark hair look entirely and completely different from blonde women, even without masks to hide their identities.
Dinah is blissfully unaware of any familiarity, and stands and watches patiently, not dreaming in the slightest of interrupting training. She respects it too much for that.
He ends his kicks and moves to a calm series of tai chi moves. In time his ends up sitting on the grass, breathing controlled, internally counting the beats of his heart. Closing his eyes.
He knows that many people study martial arts, but he's still surprised that she would ask this question. Not that he looks surprised. "It's a combination of taekwondo and savate, with some other idea added, and a tai chi chaser. I thought I was overdue to practice my kicks."
Dinah? He looks at her closely. It does look like her, a bit, before growing up, before being at the receiving end of the same sort of abuse he's been at (though, he would admit, the Dinah he knew never looked like any had ever made contact). "Charlie. And I think looks are deceptive here. I hadn't done very much practice of any sort for the three months before I arrived here. Before I died. I guess that this body comes with some preset muscle memory. But in my mind, I'm still out of practice."
"No one's told you that there are dead people here." A statement, not a question. "I don't think it's very common, though since I'm not here a week yet, my sampling might be too small to count statistically. But I'm dead, and I met one other person who just died as well. I don't know how that's possible. Magic maybe?"
Dinah's not sure she likes the sound of magic bringing dead people here, but not for the obvious reason; more that it seems a bit unfair on dead people, somehow.
"I'm getting the feeling that everything here is." Including possibly meeting a friend about ten years before he meets her. "Which makes it a lot more interesting than the standard afterlife, if nothing else."
"You found the door through your closet. I suppose that works." He's reminded of one of the books the nuns at the orphanage tended to confiscate as being blasphemous. He never got too far, but he remembers the way through the wardrobe. "What kind of martial arts are you studying?"
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And the more he practices, the less she's interested in her studies. Tae Kwon Do she recognises, Savate not so much.
Eventually she's standing and watching, her books clutched to her chest.
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Charlie also could swear that her face is familiar. Which means he will have to ask why that should be so, but not till he's done. A few more minutes should do.
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Dinah is blissfully unaware of any familiarity, and stands and watches patiently, not dreaming in the slightest of interrupting training. She respects it too much for that.
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And opening them. "Hello."
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Bright, friendly and suitably polite. "What discipline was that?"
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"I'm Dinah."
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She'll instead focus on the most pressing thing.
"Before you what?"
The various introductions missed something out.
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"I guess," she admits. "It's strange, though."
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Which she thinks is pretty awesome.
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"Judo, Boxing, Pankration and... OK, one of my teachers is mute, so I don't know what I'm learning from her."
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