Fists over Feelings

It's the Thuggish Ruggish Bone

The door to the new business at the Reseda strip mall rang as Miguel looked up from the dirty mat's to see... Trixie! The girl looked around before spotting Miguel and smiling.

"Hi, am I early?" She asked and another man came out from the office. 'That must be Johnny.'

 "What're you doing here?" Johnny asked, clearly confused.

"Miguel told me you needed more students so I thought that it'd be cool if I try out for karate." Trixie said and Johnny looked at Miguel with a look before the two of them went to his office. And they were not quiet.

"Please? She's pretty badass!" She heard Miguel's voice say.

"She's a girl. You don't wanna be a pussy, you wanna have balls." Johnny said and Trixie feigned a laugh as he continued, "Girl's are emotional, difficult to understand, and interrupting."

"Please, just give it a chance. Her brother's a nurse! She could probably pay well and she lives literally right next to us."

"No."

"She's a badass."

"No."

"Just give it a chance. You said you wanted more students, right?" Miguel asked and there was a moment of silence before Johnny and Miguel exited the office and walked back on the mat.

"So?" Trixie asked and Johnny crossed his arms, scrutinizing her. She stared back before the man spoke.

"Okay, we'll train you. But no more emotional girl crap, you're gonna be a man here. You're not gonna be a pussy, you're gonna have balls." Johnny said and Trixie looked at him with an unimpressed look.

"Sure." She shrugged and set down her bag, "When do we start?"

"Right now." Johnny said, "Punch the dummy." He pointed to the dummy.

Trixie looked at Miguel with a confused look before shrugging and standing in front of the dummy. She shifted her left leg up a bit before relaxing her shoulders and throwing a solid punch to the dummy's face.

"Hm. Well, you can throw a punch better than this guy." Johnny gestured to Miguel and the boy rolled his eyes.

"Thank you?" Trixie said, though it came out as more of a question as she looked at Miguel for help.

"That was pretty good Cobra material, wasn't it Sensei?" Miguel asked.

Johnny frowned slightly before shrugging, "If she pays well, she can stay." He said and Trixie shrugged.

"It sounds fun. But yeah, I'll come back next time with a paycheck if my time is well spent." Trixie joked as she got her water bottle and took a drink. Johnny went to his office and Miguel sat down with her. Trixie started doing Butterfly stretch while drinking some water before changing into the splits. Miguel's eyes widened.

"You're really flexible, aren't you?" Miguel said as he saw her change from a side split to a front split with ease.

"I do ballet, so I guess I've just been flexible for a while. You think it'll help with karate?" She asked as she did a straddle pancake, leaning forward.

Miguel shrugged, "I dunno, I'm still a beginner myself." He said and Trixie nodded for him to continue. "I just started a few days ago. After I got jumped."

"Ah, that makes sense I guess." Trixie thought before Miguel asked.

"What about you? Why're you doing karate?" Miguel asked.

"You asked me to and you sounded desperate." Trixie said before adding quietly, "And learning self-defense would've helped me a lot when I was younger." She smiled before straightening her legs and leaning her body forward onto her legs with ease.