Going Harder, Getting Better

Rory was making a habit of teaching Zora. She seemed to need it and honestly, Rory liked the action. She missed simple pleasures like sparring and jumping around. Today, she'd convinced Zora to take her home. Rory had a plan in mind.

"We're going to make sure you can defend yourself in your own home," she'd told Zora. "I'm going to teach you more than just kicking someone's ass when they're going hard on you. I'm going to teach you adaptability. I'm going to teach you to defend your home turf. Remember, this is your turf. You are at an advantage here. Never let someone convince you otherwise."

"Nah, I'm fine. Er, you're going to want to want to move your furniture back into place. We want this place to look exactly like it normally would."

Rory looked around Zora's home, taking it in. Plans were already formulating in her head. She figured, though, that perhaps she out to bring up what was on her mind.

"I went easy last time. I'm going to go harder at you this time. I doubt your want me to break into your home." Not to mention what a bad idea that would have been considering Zora's bodyguard.

"I'm going to go somewhere in your home and I'm going to attack you, okay? I want you to do the best you can to defend yourself. Remember that you know the layout of this place better than I could. Use that to your advantage."

Rory laughed. "Sure. If you want." And the second Zora wasn't looking at her, Lorelai slipped off further into Zora's home. It was a nice place. Fancy, even. Rory wasn't used to being in places like this.

She was silent enough on her feet, having learned how to distribute her weight in such a way that she made no sound. It made walking a little slower, but Rory could use her flexibility to her advantage where that came.

And then Rory hid away.

She hid until hours had passed. She hid until she was sure Zora would think she straight up abandoned her.

When Zora wandered back into her home that was when Rory struck, not from the side, not from the bottom, but from the ceiling. Parkour had taught Rory how to contort and get into high places.

She threw a hard hit directly at Zora's shoulder, aiming to knock her down, but being real, with Lorelai's strength there was a good chance of Zora's shoulder dislocating. Rory had experience that before and she knew while it hurt, it hurt even worse to fix it. That hadn't been fun.

"Damn. Nice." Rory said before being on Zora again. She didn't let up, and Rory didn't tire. It was a relentless attack of hands and feet. Gripping and tripping and striking for weak points all over Zora's body.

Lorelai could move and twist so she was at Zora's left, then her right. Behind her. In front. Behind her again, a hand going to tangle into Zora's hair and yank her backward.