Brutal - Robby Keene

01-12. Digney

"Hey."

Orion looked up to Mar as she stood at the door to his office. He smiled at the sight of his daughter.

"Hey, come in." Orion said as he gestured to the seat in front of his table. "You've been so busy, I've missed you."

"I know." Mar sighed with a small smile as she walked into the office, sitting down at the seat. "Life's been really hectic."

"I'm proud of you for making Team Captain, Felix told me this morning." Orion grinned at the girl. "When do you guys leave, again?"

"In two days." Mar hummed as she drummed her fingers against the table. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Anything." Orion told the girl with a nod and a hum as he shut his computer down and set it aside. "Shoot."

"Uh, well.. I won like one fight to become Team Captain." Mar said with a nod as she pulled her legs up unto the seat, hugging them to her chest. "And then in the second fight, the girl I was fighting.. Tory.. she.. they made us um, stop the fight because her mom had died."

"That was smart." Orion said with a frown. "It was a lose-lose situation anyways. If she had won, it wouldn't have brought her mother back to life. She would still feel empty. Then she would feel bad about how she won, because fighting in grief brings rage and rage brings illegal and harmful shots to your opponents. If she had lost, then she would be in an even worse state than she started. It was abetter idea for her not to fight."

"I know." Mar said as she scrunched her face. She wasn't crying but she sounded like she was. "And I- I tried to tell her that but then she told me I wouldn't understand, but I do! And then she said that my mom was an alcoholic and her mom wasn't so her mom didn't deserve to die and I- that really hurt."

"I know, honey." Orion told her softly. "People say a lot of horrid things when they're hurt. She's feeling so misunderstood and she's probably feeling like she had no one on her side. You have to understand that she didn't mean it."

"Yeah, but she's supposed to be my friend." Mar said with a deep frown. "Why would my friend say a thing like that to me?"

"No one's perfect, Mar." Orion told her softly. "We all say things that we don't mean at all. That doesn't mean we don't care about the persons we accidentally hurt."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Mar sighed out to the man as she leaned her head back tiredly. "I just can't wait for this competition to be over."

"Me too." Orion chuckled at her as he began scribbling something unto his notepad. "I can't wait to spend some time with you."

"Oh yeah, um, that reminds me." Mar said as she raised her head, causing the man to look up to her. "I was wondering if it was possible for me to um.. take your last name, so I would be Mariah Digney instead of Mariah Lachlan for the tournament."

"I would absolutely love that." Orion smiled widely at the girl as he stood up from his chair. "Well, we have to go now!"

"Now?" Mar asked with widened eyes and a laugh, Orion pulling her up from the chair she was in.

"Yes, now." Orion told the girl as he began to pull her away. "You are so lucky I have connections, or else this would've have taken much longer than two days."

"I love rich people." Mar said with a smile, causing her father to laugh with a nod. The two made their way to get Mar's name changed.

A change that was necessary for the new person she was going to become for the tournament.

🥋

Two days later and the senseis and their students were in the airport with all their bags of clothes and karate equipment.