"Yeah. Hannah was in the area, she probably would've saved us."

He looks down at the floor. "Anyway, you're cool, which is why I'm sharing. You deserve to know my whole... deal."

"Mmm. I'm glad every member of the group I meet for an extended period of time seems to think I'm cool. I must be doing something right. You'd have said so if there was anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah. We should spar some more, it's good physio for me."

"Sure. Could even do a bit right now, break day or not. Seems like a good capstone."

"Let's."

He unhugs and heads for the gym.

She's gotten steadily better at this whole fighting thing. None of the good habits are as natural and ingrained as on an experienced cultivator, but she mostly remembers them, and she's getting faster.

The spars are more even now, the suppression and probably Cocoa's injury cutting him down to Trys' size. Cocoa is grinning and clearly enjoying himself, with little shouts of "ha!" and "take that!" sprinkled into his attacks. 

Trys fights silently, except for a simple 'Ha!' on particularly strong strikes. She's trying to be mobile, aggressive, unpredictable.

In a small break between rounds, Cocoa wipes his brow. "I think we're even at this level now. Want me to step it up and give you some experience fighting stronger opponents?"

"...Probably a good idea. It'll be very different requirements."

He steps over to the suppression formation and fiddles with the controls. The formation dims a little. 

"Alright, come at me."

She does. More carefully and more inclined-to-evade than before, possibly too much so.

Cocoa - 

Did he just backhand her? It feels that way. He just read her dodge and put his fist right there.

He follows up, too, with a pulled punch to the gut that's still enough to knock her over. 

"You should know by now that when Silver Starlight gives you one of her little taps, it means 'you're dead.'"

"Ugh. Fuck. You're lightning fast."

"True Qi does that, yeah. And I'm still under suppression. Again?"

"Keep hitting me fairly hard? No way I learn unless it sucks not to. Again."

She goes forward. Tries to move in an opening-minimizing way.

He's lightning fast. Not faster than Ring Dancer's bursts of agility, but fast enough that he can block and counter. 

Trys hits the mats again. 

"I'm going to come at you this time, once you get up. You need practice at responding to attack from someone your senior."

She gets up wordlessly and braces, ready to twitch out some kind of response-

Cocoa catches her across the jaw and backs off. 

"You've got to move when you see me commit, not when the blow comes. I'll hit you again the same way until you can block it."

"I am trying. But yes."

Okay. Not when he moves, when... When she feels like he's about to move.

He feints her out and then punches her. 

"Again."

And again. And again. And again. And again...

Eventually, she says, "I want to do my true self meditation now and then go sleep it off. Thanks for beating me up."

"It's no problem. You managed on those last few pretty well, you're getting the timing down. We'll practice more later. See you around."

She gets two strands, the workout not quite long enough to work up the energy for more.

In the morning she wakes up early and DMs Spirit Butterfly,

When will you be arriving today?