fandomtownies | The beach, Friday afternoon/evening

Momoko was still feeling a bit odd about class today, but she made her way eagerly to the beach. She would have shouted a hello, but there was no way she'd be heard. Instead she waited a few feet away, covering her ears as she watched Dinah practice.

When Dinah stopped to take a breath, Momoko ran closer and tapped her on the shoulder. "I finally made it! That was totally awesome; you're getting good at controlling your cry!"

Dinah whirled, and grinned, then said, "Hope that didn't deafen you too much. I've been getting way more practice lately than I expected." She looked guilty. "And I'm sorry I didn't call you right as soon as we got back on Wednesday. That was a really weird day."

"You've been practicing? You should have told me, I would totally have helped." Momoko dropped her workout bag and knelt beside it to retrieve a cold bottled water. She held it out to Dinah. "So what weird happened? And is it why radio said that stuff about Raven?"

She didn't want to go directly to Raven if it was just the squirrels making stuff up, you see.

"Probably, yeah, I didn't hear it." Dinah took the water, and opened it up, taking long gulps. "We were going on a trip, a bunch of us, to witness this ritual she was going to take part in. Moral support. It was... well. It was to lock off a bad guy in his own -- dimension." She blew out a breath, deciding not to mention that the bad guy was Raven's dad. "And then the stupidest Justice League ever showed up and demanded we stop."

Momoko had grabbed her own bottle while she listened. "Why in the world would a 'justice' league try to stop you from sealing a villain? I can't believe either of you'd be a part of any ritual that would do bad things or hurt people, even to get something good to happen."

"Well, two reasons. Apparently the guys setting up the ritual didn't know it would cause holes in the ozone layer back in Raven's home dimension. Which you can still fix, but-- anyway. Raven had already asked this Justice League for help a year or so ago to do this, and one of the magic-use members decided Raven was evil." That still made Dinah fume. "So they didn't believe us! And tried to stop us! I had to fight a, well, a me who was ten years older and more experienced but didn't have TK!"

Momoko sputtered her water. "They thought Raven was evil? Raven?"

"I know! I mean, I know she has powers that can be kind of scary--" Or a lot. "And there's stuff she's-- touched by, I guess. But she hates it, and is scared of it, she only wants to help people and heal them and god, this Zatanna person, I just--- Grrrr!" A swinging punch at the air in front of her, and then Dinah collapsed backward on the sand. "So then we had to fight the bad guy's minions. And then the bad guy. And then Raven gave herself up to buy us time..." She sighed, sat up again, face woebegone, and said much more quietly, "And then Raven's mom jumped into the rift to seal it. And we couldn't save her."

Momoko dropped to the sand next to Dinah. "Oh. Wow."

After a moment, she added softly, "Is she... Is she dead or just sealed, too?"

"Just sealed." Dinah scrubbed at her face, and said, "If we let her out right now, we'd let out the bad guy too. Maybe, I dunno. Maybe we can find a way to save her someday." She looked miserable. "I hope."

Momoko was quiet for a moment, thinking back to when she and the others had decided to offer their own selves to seal Him.

"She did it to save everyone... everything she cared about, right? She did it to keep the bad guy away?" Momoko spoke slowly, not really sure if she should even say anything, but knowing what Raven's mom had probably thought at the time. "She did what we all do, if we're really heroes; she saved people no matter how much it cost her."

Momoko leaned into Dinah's shoulder a bit. "So, don't make her heroic act into a bad thing by thinking like that. No maybe's, no 'I hope's. Just a 'not yet'?"

"Not yet." She'd been able to say that to Raven, but it was harder to say away from her. "Yeah." Dinah sighed, leaning her head against Momoko's for a moment. "Everyone's pretty upset. And we were all wiped out when we got back, three fights in a row, some of it mental and psychic, and Raven's... well. You can guess."

"Yeah." Momoko could understand a little. Mostly, though, she was still thinking over the last bits of the sealing she'd help perform. She'd never thought once about how the people left behind would feel about it if she hadn't survived it.

"So radio had it right. Ah! Did Karla go, too? She was in class on Wednesday, but seemed totally out of sorts."

"Yeah, she did. She's having ... issues." Like Dinah wasn't, of course. "Plus, like I said, exhausting. I'm so glad I didn't have to be anywhere Wednesday." Dinah shook her head, then stood up, took a breath, and screamed some of her frustration out at the water, which curved and belled out around the noise.

"...so, sparring?"

"Issues..." Momoko repeated as she watched the water move. She was slightly frustrated that so much had happened and she was just finding out about it now. She felt like a very very bad friend, having to find out about all of this because of radio. She hated finding out important stuff from radio.

Sighing, she stood, dusting the sand from her backside and legs. "Did I tell you I'm taking a self-defense course this session?"

Dinah brightened, happy for the distraction of a new fighting concept. "No! How was it? What've you learned so far?"

"It's only been one class, you know!" Momoko was glad to see that Dinah had cheered up a bit.

"Just basic katas," she laughed. "Starter martial arts steps? I didn't do too good at it. The teacher had to keep helping me."

"Who's the teacher? And show me what you've got, maybe I can help," Dinah said, getting into her own ready stance, in order to mimic whatever Momoko did.

Momoko fell easily into the first form, the one that was so familiar to what she knew. "She says we're supposed to call her 'Faith'? I don't know that I can do that, it feels weird to not use a person's title." Momoko managed to make the first turn and the step that followed.

"And she likes to punch people, I think. She couldn't believe I didn't have anyone I wanted to." Momoko lost her concentration and turned the wrong way.

Dinah laughed at Momoko's comment, and said, "What, not even the monsters back home?" Then, "Wait, like this?"

She imitated the kata so far, including the wrong-turn, only faster than Momoko, and adding a punch to it. "Take that, Other Dinah Lance."

"you make it look so easy." Momoko shook her head, chuckling at Dinah's punch and dropping her pose. "I don't want to punch them all the time! If they haven't done anything, why should I punch them?"

She knelt and fished around in her bag. "I have notes I printed from the internet. Ah! Here!" She held up some pages.

Dinah shook her head, and said, "You are a terrifically nice superhero, and I get why this Faith was kerflummoxed. OOo, let's see." She took the papers, paged through, turned them back and forth, and said, "Ahhh. Got it. Okay, watch. Like this."

Kick, turn, kick; punch, balance, turn, punch lower... Dinah ran through the kata half-way, slower than she had before, then stopped. "Like that, see?"

Momoko gaped. "You got that from the notes?!" She'd spent an entire class period trying and hadn't gotten past the third form!

Edited 2010-07-10 04:25 (UTC)

Dinah blinked, and looked down at the notes at her feet again. "Well, it's really similar to the forms Helena and Barbara taught me. It's a pretty basic form, a square with different moves..?" Her eyebrows went up. "What part's giving you trouble?"

"All of it!" Momoko frowned and considered the notes. "Well, no. Mostly I keep losing track when I turn, I'm so worried about the steps and the hand movements."

Dinah frowned a little, then said determinedly, "Okay, follow me. It's a regular pattern. Two, two, two, two..." She started the kata, watching Momoko.

Momoko set her shoulders, determined to learn this. It was important to her being the best hero she could be, learning how to fight without transforming or weapons.

She kept an eagle eye on Dinah and yet still ended up turning the wrong way by setting out the wrong foot.

Dinah waited, then corrected her, saying, "Left. You're getting it, though. See?" She grinned at her. "Again."

"It's so annoying! I know the steps but I can't get them right. And I want to!" Momoko started over. Again. "If I can't do the basics, I won't be able to level up!"

Edited 2010-07-10 05:03 (UTC)

"You can do it. You will. Your body has to learn it first, not your head. You're overthinking it. And practice practice practice do it again-- And oh God, I just turned into Arthur." Dinah facepalmed.

"Even Arthur knows how to do this?" Momoko rolled her eyes and sagged a bit as she moved. And misplaced her foot. "I am so far behind! I am totally going to be practicing this until I get it."

"Well, no, I mean, I'm sure he knows boxing and hand-to-hand, it's just-- the practice thing, that's him taking over my brain." Dinah blew out a breath. "Not that it's wrong. And yeah, that's all it is. Muscle memory has to kick in. Don't overthink it. And don't get too down if it doesn't come right away. I've been doing this for three years, it takes a while."

"I have until Ms Faith asks us to show her, which could be next week. Oh!" Momoko made a turn (successfully) and smiled at Dinah. "Speaking of next week, I'm going home for Obon for the first few days. But I should be back on Thursday, if we wanted to go into town at all."

"I do! God, I so do." She could really, really use the catharsis of a good fight or patrol. "See, you're getting it!" Dinah ran through it again, matching Momoko step for step. "Just going home for a visit?"

Which of course threw Momoko off as she tried to figure out how she'd done it different. She got back into position and started again.

"Sort of? It's a holiday back home and my mom called on my birthday, upset that I haven't been back in a while, so I agreed to skip classes and go." She started to turn the wrong way, but she changed direction at the last second. "Actually, I didn't tell her I was skipping classes, I just said I'd go."

"Probably for the best, yeah. Not the kind of things moms deal with well." Dinah's tone was a little wistful. "I hope you have a good time there." She grinned at Momoko. "See? Even better. So. Next time you have to fight an alternate version of yourself-- and hopefully not one who's ten years older-- you'll be ready."

"It wasn't ten years, but my evil alternate was older. And muscle-y. But she was created by Him, so I don't think she'll come back." Momoko shook her head, grinning. "And I'm just hoping that anyone's around back home. Last time I went home everyone had other plans and I wound up alone."

Edited 2010-07-10 06:27 (UTC)

"...okay, so yeah. But you never know!" Dinah grinned back, then she scowled. "And hey. If no one is, call. I'll come and visit your house and we'll eat all the food."

"That sounds like an awesome plan," Momoko laughed. "Keep your phone nearby, okay?" She kept moving as she talked. "I wish I'd thought of asking if you could visit this time. You do need to come home with me sometime, you know. You'll totally love Tokyo City; even if you don't speak Japanese!"

"OOoo, this is a great plan! You got to see New Gotham, I *totally* deserve a trip to New Tokyo." Dinah's grin widened. "Maybe even fighting a monster while we're there."

"If they're up to something, sure! Like I would leave you out? They don't always try anything but Mojo Jojo will probably have built another giant Mojo Robo soon." Momoko's eyes rolled. "And there's always shopping and visiting cafes! And maybe a festival if we time it right. And showing you the lab, of course."

"Mojo Robo? Oh, man that sounds wrong." Dinah bounced. "Shopping! Cafes! Ooo, festivals? I could be up for that." She took a breath. "But now, there is practice, right?"

"That's what he calls them. He's such a weird monkey! He builds these mecha... giant robots, that he uses in some of his crimes. Some are good but a lot aren't. Like the one he made that used soccer balls. That one was totally stupid." Not that it didn't cause a lot of damage and trouble, but really, what self-respecting mecha used soccer balls for a weapon?

"Practice!" Momoko dropped her stance and grinned. "What are we doing today?"

The beach, Friday afternoon/evening

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